Professor Krishna Manohar

**Krishna Manohar** was an Archmage, a Professor and head of the Light Department at White Griffon Academy, an Archduke, and the Royal Healer. He was known as the "God of Healing", the "Mad Professor", and the "Never Magus" and was a Light Master capable of using hard-light constructs and going toe-to-toe with Awakened mages. However, he was a social pariah that the Royals had no control over without the help of Jirni Ernas or his mother Sitri. He occasionally teamed up with Illyum Balkor, as he shared the same sentiment of intolerance for old noble families, and was known to vanish when needed.

## Appearance

Manohar was in his early 30's, with black hair with shades of silver, and a slender build. He wore white robes with gold embroidery that were actually Tier 5 Supernova spells stored using runes in light form. He had a slender and flimsy build that would make most shut-ins look like professional athletes.

During the Royal gala, Manohar wears his Archmage robe over the high uniform of the Kingdom (but white instead of deep blue to emphasize his status as the god of healing), consisting of a white jacket with golden epaulets, white mid-waisted black trousers with galon, a trim one with two silk stripes to conceal the outer seams, and black shoes.

## Personality

### Social

Manohar was extremely fickle, eccentric, and pretty much barking mad. He held nobles in disdain and considered those around him to be idiots. He valued knowledge above most else and held no regard for status, such as when he attacked King Meron after his research was confiscated. Per Queen Sylpha's description, Manohar was a "loose cannon, discretion and reliability [aren't] his strong suits." The top 3 people he feared were Queen Sylpha, his mother, and Jirni Ernas, in that order, and only respected those with "enough brains to be worth talking to."

He kneeled for the Royals only if they really insisted, otherwise he preferred to arrive fashionably late to avoid the hassle of formalities.

He was also quite flirtatious, hitting on Elina Verhen when she visited Lith in the academy ICU.

### Genius

Like most geniuses, whenever Manohar made a breakthrough in the magical field, his mind would focus more on the discovery than on the threat at hand, making him a sitting duck. Only after several beatings as a student at the White Griffon academy had the god of healing learned that no opponent would give him a timeout on request.

The Mad Professor refused to write with water magic for safety reasons (mostly his own) since he used the first thing at hand to jot down his bursts of inspiration, be it a napkin or someone else's clothes. It made his notes easy to lose and hard to recover from his latest victim. The only way to decipher his code was through his mother.

Manohar was known for his unscrupulous experimentation, even trying to turn children into test subjects. This resulted in him being banned from most social events involving youths. At one particular party, he tried to feed Aran Verhen and several other kids odd-looking candies and fruit juice, but was stopped after Jirni kicked him in the nuts. He frequently slipped experimental drugs into the food and drinks of those who annoyed him at restaurants, leading him to be banned from multiple establishments.

## Abilities

Aside from being an innovative Light Master, Manohar self-discovered a way to silent cast without using true magic. His defeat at Thrud's hands drove him to study Lochra Silverwing's diaries and learn to use first magic Light Mastery to draw all the runes and infuse them with mana, though he still needed his hands to quickly draw the runes of multiple spells at the same time without messing up. His mastery of Light Mastery reaches a point where he can switch features with someone via hologram.

Manohar also had nimble fingers that allow him to trace multiple hand signs per second, but also to explore other people's pockets whenever he was bored.

However, despite his genius Manohar's combat prowess was lacking compared to someone like Vastor. Since he never needed more than his constructs to best all of his opponents, his experiments left him no time for something like learning swordsmanship.

## Equipment

The god of healing never relied on equipment for two reasons, the first being that he never needed it to win, and the second that usually everything the Kingdom gifts him with was jam-packed with trackers. Later on, Orion crafted a specialized Featherwalker Armor and an Adamant sword called Brightborne for the Never Magus which he used in the fight against Dawn.

## Background

Krishna Manohar was a master of the light element and an eccentric genius. He was one of the most powerful mages in the Griffon Kingdom and one of the few able to use hard-light constructs (difference being that he discovered how to create them by himself, as opposed to others who learned from the werefolk).

Manohar disappeared frequently without notice, seemingly especially when he was needed. Headmaster Linjos had a hard time keeping him on track and Manohar showed no respect for him, often making disparaging remarks at Linjos' expense and ignoring any semblance of respectability or social customs.

### Student

Manohar started the fourth year at the White Griffon Academy while barely twelve years old and gave lessons to his Professors more often than he received them. He took the Battle Mage specialization only because it sounded cool and even though he soon got bored of it, Manohar still aced every one of his classes by barely skimming the books and with no practice. After his graduation, he revealed to have also learned Forgemastery on his own as a hobby, he said, because the academy's tools were too primitive for his taste and he couldn't trust idiots to do things properly. Manohar's endless talent was only matched by his rudeness, yet despite the countless humiliations Vastor had to endure as Manohar dwarfed him on a daily basis, the two became friends. Being a true genius, Manohar become engrossed by the mystery of Arthan's Madness and managed to fill many of the gaps in the blueprints. Unbeknownst to Vastor, Manohar discovered Light Mastery thanks to their work together and also learned Body Sculpting and shapeshifting on his own as a student by reading Vastor's books.

The Mad Professor went from Assistant Professor to Archmage at age 16 without ever becoming a Great Mage, becoming the youngest Archmage in the Kingdom's history. He became an Archduke as well, since his merits couldn't go to anything else. However, he had no lands or responsibilities, since no one trusts him with people.

### White Griffon Academy

When Quylla Ernas breaks Linjos' nose with a punch after the latter attempts to transport a gravely wounded Lith, Manohar shows up and punches Linjos again and awards "the scrawny shorty" (Quylla) points for a "well executed punch." As Solus reveals later, Manohar had "always dreamed about hitting a Headmaster and getting away with it."

Jirni Ernas visits the academy hospital to arrest/torture the Pontus boys for planning to drug and assault Phloria, where she meets Manohar. At first, Manohar refuses to let anyone near his "specimens" but Jirni quickly intimidates him and he falls into line. In the aftermath of Balkor's attack, as Lith recovers from cracking his life force to save Protector, Manohar becomes Lith's personal healer.

Marth asks Lith to share his diagnostic spell that was able to detect the parasites, but Manohar tells him not to, stating that Healers only become better by pushing their brains to the limits, while having Lith's spell would make them "stop using that stone they call a brain."

After Lith graduates, he takes up the post of Assistant Professor and Manohar's assistant for 2 years. He becomes responsible for substituting in Manohar's lessons, filling his paperwork, cleaning his messes, and taking blame for his actions whenever he loses sight of the Professor.

### Othre

Manohar and Tista go to Othre under Jirni's supervision. Their Mage Association liaison Dorian Felhorn explains the made mage situation and the blue pillar phenomenon that sucks its victims dry of mana, and Manohar and Lith deduce that Forbidden Magic is being used. They encounter and attempt to subdue a made-mage. Manohar manages to capture the woman's vortex and discovers in it a small piece of human tissue able to grow as long as it feeds on mana. While studying the tissue in the Association branch lab, the meat puppet/Carpenter grows and assumes Tista's voice and shape, tricking the guards outside into knocking Manohar out before consuming them. Tista heals Manohar while Lith fends it off when it is suddenly consumed by a blue pillar of light that sucks its mana dry.

Manohar is forced to accompany Mynna Lanza at her gala, where he examines the attending noble suspects, most of whom are made mages. He captures Baron Mox and manages to extract the meat puppet from him safely. However, when attempting to do the same with Viscountess Ebla, the puppeteer activates an array that knocks Manohar out. Manohar, seeing the opportunity to be brought to the enemy base, allows himself to be captured along with Mynna.

Manohar wakes up in Thrud's underground dungeon, chained up with his arms amputated. Thrud Griffon reveals herself as the puppeteer, having taken over Mynna's housemaid Hessie's body months prior. Manohar recognizes that she captured him alive to have him fix the flaws in her meat puppet creations, but he frees himself using hard-light arm constructs. He cuts down the small army of Thrud's Carpenters and makes his way through the dungeon. However, with his mana reserve running half empty, Manohar decides to call for help in the form of a giant hologram of himself in the sky saying "Quick, you need my help" while releasing fireworks.

Lith Jirni, Captain Kilian Aluria, and Professor Zogar Vastor invade the hideout and make their way to Manohar, when Thrud traps and Warps them into her throne room. Manohar remarks that she is the "second most beautiful woman" after Tista to Thrud's fury. He and Vastor engage Thrud while Kilian tampers with the array and Lith protects Jirni, who is incapacitated at the start. Thrud attempts to recruit Manohar as her King but he vehemently refuses. Thrud proceeds to critically wound Kilian and Vastor before engaging Lith.

Manohar is overwhelmed by a sense of defeat, until Jirni kicks him into action while Lith engages Thrud. Lith and Jirni are able to rip the Sword of Arthan out of her grip momentarily, allowing Manohar to get in close and disable the protections on her armor using Clean Slate. Thrud summons her army of Carpenters when the barrier is finally broken and dozens of Spellbreakers pour in, decimating the meat puppets. Thrud escapes, detonating the remaining Carpenters and destabilizing the surrounding space and dimensional spells which causes a massive explosion that wipes out any trace of her. The party is Warped back to Othre for their reports. Lith approaches Manohar asking him to teach him to make hard-light constructs from his holograms, but Manohar refuses and encourages him to find the answer on his own.

### Undead War

Queen Sylpha orders the Royal Forgemasters to create an ankle bracelet for Manohar that can't be removed without Marth's help and prevents him from using dimensional and flight magic, as well as containing a locator spell. However, Leannan the TItania's visit to Marth's office enables Manohar to deactivate the ankle bracelet and escape, leaving Ryssa a psychological evaluation certifying his insanity.

During one of his escapades the Night Court unsuccessfully attempts to capture him. Manohar turns his assailants back into mortals long enough to slaughter them like pigs. As penance for his multiple disappearances, the Mad Professor is ordered by the Royals to identify the upper echelons of the Undead Courts and their associates in the Kingdom. The Court seizes all his notes and assets, causing Manohar to attempt to strangle the King before being restrained.

Manohar is tasked with eradicating at least five local branches of the Undead Courts located in as many important cities of the Kingdom, with his assets and research funds remaining frozen until then. He had accidentally found an underground entrance after being kidnapped, meeting Night and her Chosen. He approaches Ilyum Balkor in the Blood Desert to get his "second opinion" since Balkor wants to get revenge on Night for bothering him in the past. He shapeshifts them into young maidens to infiltrate Othre. Manohar reveals how he uses Light Mastery first magic to silent cast, and Balkor reveals Awakening and true magic.

Manohar leads them to one of the Night Court's Ancient Warp Gate entrances he found by accident, where they massacre the undead until they meet Night. Night extends her offer to Balkor again but he refuses and the two Magi clash with her Chosen. Manohar becomes obsessed with learning the secret behind Dominance, Spirit Magic, and Creation Magic, resolving to learn darkness magic. Night quickly overpowers the two Magi, forcing Manohar to create a construct decoy to hold her in place and fake his death while Balkor's Chaos spell destroys her host. He leaves a carving of "Manohar was here."

Manohar accompanies Marth and Vastor to escort Lith when he is promoted to Archmage and solemnly consoles Lith for becoming one, warning him of all the unwanted attention it would bring. He accompanies Jirni to the Blood Desert to meet with Balkor and discuss her plan to have Balkor weaken Deirus' faction by crippling the heirs of the magical bloodlines, even her own allies, and have Manohar heal her allies later on.

### Balkor Copycat

A Balkor copycat sends marked cards to Lith's allies, including Manohar and other professors from the White Griffon. Jirni works with Balkor, Vastor and Manohar to develop meat puppets for each of her children and herself as insurance against anything Archmage Deirus might pull in his quest for revenge against the Ernas. She quarantines her daughters to buy time for the project to be completed and make sure not even her husband Orion can discern the copies from the original.

The Three Horsemen attack major cities of the Kingdom after stealing their mage tower steeds from Baba Yaga. Though the Royals initially intend to send Manohar to fight Night at Vesta, Manohar insists on fighting Dawn because they share the same element and he had hoped to learn something by fighting one of the most ancient known Light Masters. However, Manohar's neglect to learn how to use Orion's artifacts proves his downfall. Dawn overwhelms the Never Magus with her centuries gap in experience as well as having become one with her host, something she gleaned from her defeat against Lith and Solus.

Manohar is forced to use the Spell Hoarding Cube royal artifact, summoning the specter of First King Valeron. Valeron's Blade spell mortally wounds Dawn, causing Baba Yaga to arrive hastily to save her daughter. Manohar mistakes the Red Mother for an enemy and conjures another sealed spell that summons the specters of the First King's guard, forcing Baba Yaga to flee. Manohar's defeat causes him to reconsider learning other elements and specializations. After his near defeat, Manohar is brought to live with the Ernas to learn both swordsmanship from Orion and how to use his new equipment properly.

Queen Sylpha personally chains Manohar before bringing him back to the Royal castle, summoning his mother Sitri to keep the god of healing in check and Orion to teach Manohar swordsmanship. She reveals that Valeron's Blade spell stored in the Spell Hoarding Cube was the last one and commands him to train until he is able to contribute a spell of equal value.

During Marth and Ryssa's engagement ceremony, Manohar spikes food and drinks with magic potions, leading him to be uninvited to their marriage ceremony. He attends the Royal Gala with Sitri as his escort. As Vastor and the Queen's Corpse don't officially exist, Manohar is the only one to receive the honors of defending the Kingdom against the Three Horsemen, to his annoyance. He confronts Marth, disappointed the latter broke the trio's (Vastor, Manohar, Marth) oath to never marry, and asks after the child whom he dubs Manohar Jr. Throughout the rest of the gala Manohar pursues Marth to convince him to make more children to become his lab assistants. King Meron rewards Manohar with a golden robe.

Following "Quylla"'s murder at the end of the Royal Gala by an assassin sent by Deirus, Manohar gives an eulogy at her funeral, vowing to find the one who hired her killer Tiennon Zavra. Manohar, Orion, Vastor, and Balkor infiltrate Deirus' mansion with Jirni to obtain a confession for his crimes where they learn he has become a thrall and one of Night's Chosen. The gods subdue and torture Deirus leading Night to shatter her prism from a distance before he can reveal her location, killing the traitorous Archmage. Following Orion filing for divorce for Jirni's betrayal Manohar, Vastor, and Marth visit Orion to advise Orion to reconsider (though Manohar is only there to inspect the effect of the meat puppet on Quylla), but they are sent away.

Manohar becomes dead set on forcing his name upon Marth's firstborn, with Ryssa finding their quarreling so funny that she sides with Manohar from time to time to not let the argument die. After allying with Balkor to help Jirni, the two gods meet frequently for research - Manohar to help Balkor understand the light element for Tier 2 Creation Magic, and Balkor to help Manohar with solving Awakening as the latter deems it a "riddle worth solving." Over the course of a few months, each time Manohar visits he asks Balkor to cast spells while he uses his best diagnostic spells on the Blood Magus, though neither are aware of the existence of things like impurities, mana cores, and breathing techniques. He is subsequently summoned by the Royals to deal with problems in the north, which he begrudgingly accepts solely to gain access to more test subjects for his Awakening experiments. Manohar also attempts to slip "Tier Five for Dummies" magic tomes to Balkor's children as he leaves.

## Trivia

* Manohar is Eddicted's cameo.
* Manohar's character was "based on a genius professor of [Legion's]. Not so eccentric but very so. The stuff he says comes naturally since he lives in [Legion's] head, yet sometimes it's hard to make Manohar Manohar."

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 1679: Family Meeting (Part 1)
2. ↑ Chapter 285: Scanner (Part 1)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 52: A Bad Start Is The Other Half
4. ↑ Legion on Discord
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 937: Genius and Madness (Part 1)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 1452: Endless Training (Part 2)
7. ↑ Chapter 1458: Royal Gala (Part 2)
8. ↑ Chapter 128: Contingencies
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 224: Moving On (2)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Chapter 1396: Downfall of the Conceited (Part 2)
11. ↑ Chapter 124: Chaos
12. ↑ Chapter 1558: Eye Versus Eye (Part 2)
13. ↑ Chapter 816: Life Poisoning (Part 2)
14. ↑ Chapter 1312: Role Models (Part 2)
15. ↑ Chapter 1634: Royal Demands (Part 2)
16. ↑ Chapter 938: Genius and Madness (Part 2)
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Chapter 939: Guest and Sword (Part 1)
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chapter 1535: On the Same Side (Part 1)
19. ↑ Chapter 942: A Magus’ Might (Part 2)
20. ↑ Chapter 1170: Shattered Dreams (Part 2)
21. ↑ Chapter 966: The Arisen (Part 2)
22. ↑ Legion on Discord
23. ↑ Chapter 123: Severance
24. ↑ Chapter 200: Unexpected Guest (2)
25. ↑ Chapter 239: Bad News
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Chapter 430: Death from Above (Part 2)
27. ↑ Chapter 437: Thing (Part 1)
28. ↑ Chapter 447: Great Minds (Part 1)
29. ↑ Chapter 462: Foul Moon (Part 4)
30. ↑ Chapter 467: Pointless Struggle (Part 1)
31. ↑ Chapter 476: Overwhelming Power (Part 4)
32. ↑ Chapter 479: Night's Aftermath (Part 1)
33. ↑ Chapter 798: The Root of the Problem (Part 2)
34. ↑ Chapter 824: Battle of Wits (Part 2)
35. ↑ Chapter 914: Planning Ahead (Part 2)
36. ↑ Chapter 945: Hostile Takeover (Part 1)
37. ↑ Chapter 965: The Arisen (Part 1)
38. ↑ Chapter 983: Blood Judgment (Part 1)
39. ↑ Chapter 1267: Copycat (Part 1)
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Chapter 1486: A Monster’s Plan (Part 2)
41. ↑ Chapter 1399: When All Are One (Part 1)
42. ↑ Chapter 1449: Masters and Apprentices (Part 2)
43. ↑ Chapter 1459: Royal Gala (Part 3)
44. ↑ Chapter 1464: Feints and Traps (Part 2)
45. ↑ Chapter 1469: Award Ceremony (Part 1)
46. ↑ Chapter 1478: Lost Magus (Part 4)
47. ↑ Chapter 1569: Calling Card (Part 1)
48. ↑ Chapter 1635: Call of Duty (Part 1)
49. ↑ Chapter 59: Author's Note
50. ↑ Legion on Discord