Theodore Miller/History

## History

### **Bergen Academy Arc**

* Theodore Miller was an intelligent youth who had a lot of interest in magic, however, he had a severely lacking aptitude due to his minuscule mana sensitivity.
* During his five years at Bergen Academy, he wasn't even able to form a 3rd circle which was the requirement for graduation.
* He spent most of his time in the academy's library and was more proficient at magic theory than even most professors at the academy, though he was stifled by the wall of his terrible practical magic skills.
* His professor, Vince Haidal, who was the only one that respected his potential considered getting Theo to turn into a magic scholar if he failed was unable to graduate during his fifth year and final chance.
* After getting a repeater letter from Vince, Theo returned to the library where he found an unusual book. As soon as he touched the book, it entered inside his hand.
* The book was a grimoire known as the Seven Sins' Gluttony. Theo learned that the grimoire could devour any book on magic and give he, its user, the ability to use the magic inscribed in the book.
* For a few days, he fed it books before he realized that he could increase his magic power by feeding magic artifacts to Gluttony.
* To acquire artifacts at a cheap price, he went to the black market in Bergen's slums. There, he met the trader Canis and offered to appraise the latter's magic artifacts in exchange for a few magic artifacts as payment.
* He returned to the academy, devoured the artifacts and reached the 3rd circle.
* Two months later, winter break ended and Theo had reached more than halfway to his 4th circle when he unwittingly gave Gluttony an original copy of "Ballistic Magic" written by Alfred Bellontes.
* Suddenly, he was able to use "Synchro" function which allowed him to converse with a fragment of Alfred's soul residing within the book. Through this function, Theo obtained the essence of the enhanced magic missile spell, better known as "Magic Bullet", used by Alfred to kill hundreds of knights and magicians. In addition, he obtained some of Alfred's battle instinct and sensory perception which would prove to be boon on the battlefield.
* A few days later, during Vince Haidel's combat training class, Theo fought against Garcia Carter whom he easily subdued through effectively using lower circle magic to counter his opponent's brutish and inexperienced use of magic. Even when Garcia cheated by using an artifact, Theo didn't lose his cool and defeated him.
* After the match, Vince gave Theo the artifact named "Roaring flames" used by Garcia Carter. Theo revealed the existence of Gluttony to Vince who was the only professor that believed in him and supported him during his years at the academy.
* Afterwards, Theo had Gluttony devour the artifact with a "Precious" rating which resulted in a huge increase in his magic power, increased affinity to fire magic and gaining the spell "Blaze Shell" inscribed on the artifact.
* Vince promised to keep Theo's secret and the two made a deal where Vince would provide Theo with high-grade magic artifacts while Theo would allow Vince to ask a question from the omniscient Gluttony.
* A few weeks later, Vince informed him of the annual gathering being held by the Magic Society in the capital city of Mana-vil and suggested that Theo participate in the Pupil Tournament.

### **Pupil Tournament Arc**

* Soon, the two left the academy for Mana-vil. They rode with a merchant caravan, which was joyous at the presence of a senior magician like Vince and gave the two their most luxurious and comfortable carriage.
* On the way to Mana-vil, Vince gave Theo the original copy of the book "Introduction to Elemental Magic" written by Myrdal Herseim. After devouring the book, Theo was, once again, able to use "Synchro" and met with Myrdal's soul.
* Myrdal saw through Theo in a glance and understood that he wasn't aggressive and brash like the fire nor was he carefree like the wind or peaceful and content like the water but he was stiff and tenacious like the earth. Thus, he called over Mitra, the ancient earth elemental, with whom Theo made a contract. As a result of devouring the original copy, Theo was able to significantly grow his sensitivity with the four elements, as well.
* A few days later, while playing with Mitra, Theo learnt of a hobgoblin ambush through Mitra who was able to sense beneath the ground. Theo ambushed the ambushers and killed them with the help of the mercenaries.
* Suddenly, the hobgoblin leader attacked Theo. Theo used "Fire Ball" and "Magic Bullet," but failed to kill the leader. The leader used this time to shoot his spear at Theo. Theo used the newly opened "Memorize" function of Gluttony and deployed three earth shields to stop the spear. Then, he used another "Magic Missile" to impale the head of the shocked hobgoblin leader, killing it.
* After reaching Mana-vil, Vince booked a sky cab to quickly reach the Pentarium Stadium where he registered Theo into the contest. Theo was given a token with number 132.
* The two were informed that the rules of the competition had changed from Round Robin to Winner takes all where contestants fight against each other, and the winner takes all of the loser's tokens. In the end, the contestant with most token is deemed the winner. The tokens had a defense magic installed which negated any spell under the 6th circle and the goal of the match was to harm the opponent thrice.
* Just as the two were discussing the new rules, an Average of the Blue Tower appeared and expressed his thoughts of having his disciple, Philipp, fight Theo. Vince and Theo agreed after noticing that Philipp was a 'fisher' who only fought against newbies. As expected, he was easily defeated by Theo.
* After the fight, Theo and Vince ran into Blundell Adruncus. He was impressed by Theo's fight, but emphasized that his student, Sylvia, will be final victor.
* Right as he said that Sylvia appeared after defeating her opponent and met Theo. Blundell wished to initiate a fight between Theo and Sylvia, but Theo instinctively knew that he wasn't a match for her, so he declined. He then exited the stadium with Vince to buy more artifacts to increase his magic and establish his 4th circle.
* A few days later, he finally managed to form his 4th circle and returned to the Pentarium Stadium where he challenged Sylvia to a fight. As Sylvia had the most tokens and no one else was willing to fight her, it was determined that the winner of this match would be the final winner of the contest.
* As the match began, Theo took the initiative and went on the offense. He used two memory slots with "Fire Ball" spell and accelerated them with casted wind spell. Sylvia leveled off that attack with Ice Shield and counterattacked with a "Water Snake" spell which she used as a whip-like attack. Theo stalled the attack with Mitra's earth wall, while shooting a "Magic Missile" at Sylvia which earned him a point.
* Sylvia counterattacked by using "Ice Road" to quickly turn the match into a melee and struck the shocked Theo, earning a point.
* The match heated up as the two both won another point: Theo did it by stabbing Sylvia in the leg with a rock spear while Sylvia did it by shooting an ice spear at Theo's arm under the cover of fog.
* The match reached its conclusion as Sylva suddenly reached the 5th circle and used the 5th circle spell "Minor Force - Blizzard," a weaker version of the 7th circle spell, "Blizzard" and Theo countered by using Gluttony's "Memorize" function to summon two slots filled with the 4th circle spell "Catapult" and two slots filled with the 4th circle spell "Blaze Shell" and used "Fusion Magic" to combine the two to into "Volcano," one of the strongest 5th circle spells. Despite a close match, Theo's Volcano destroyed Sylvia's Minor Force - Blizzard earning him the third point and becoming the victor.

* Later that evening, Theo was awarded by King Kurt III with 300 gold coins and the peerage of Baron which would later be upgraded to Viscount after he inherited his father's peerage.
* Afterwards, Vince asked Theo if he wished to become his disciple and successor and Theo heartily accepted. Thus, the two officially became master-disciple.
* The next day, Blundell gave Theo an "official mission" regarding the investigation of a Magic Society investigator who was last seen in Theo's own Miller Barony. In fact, Blundell's true objective was to have Theo become friends with Sylvia and help her socialize as she had been ostracized since her childhood due to her stunning looks and her superb talent in magic.

### **Homecoming Arc**

* Theo and Sylvia became great friends during the long trip. Just as they were close to reaching Theo's village, a horde of undead attacked their carriage.
* Theodore climbed atop the carriage and shot magic at the undead while Sylvia did the same from inside the carriage. Together, the two routed the undead.
* As they rushed to the village, they noticed an even larger horde of undead and a group of mercenaries fighting under the pale moonlight. Theo and Sylvia assisted the mercenaries till dawn when the undead retreated.
* The leader of the mercenaries known as the "Wandering Wolves" introduced himself as Randolph and asked for Theo's identity. However, he became embarrassed when it was revealed that Theo was the son of his employer, Baron Dennis Miller.

* Theo then entered the village and met the villagers whom he had known since birth. At first, people were confused since he had been away for over five years and eventually everybody recognized him. He met his Grandfather Albert, an old baker who treated Theo like his own grandson.
* Meanwhile, the villagers were making a fuss over the pretty Sylvia whom Theo had brought home. His father, who appeared at that time, came to his rescue and escorted him back to his house where he reunited with his mother and met his three-year old brother who had been born after he left for Bergen Academy.
* Theo then talked with Randolph and asked why he and his band of mercenaries, who only work for money, were helping the poor villagers fight against the undead. He learned that Randolph had come to the village while tracking his family's heirloom swords.
* Theo also learned from Randolph that the level of the undead had been growing and after consulting Gluttony he realized that the undead were being formed by a grimoire which was quickly evolving and strengthening the undead. Theo realized that the undead had to be dealt with quickly and came up with a plan where the mercenaries would stay in the village to defend it against the undead which would come at dusk while Randolph, Sylvia and Theo will rush to the cave where the grimoire is located and eliminate main necromancer who is possessed by grimoire.
* Here, Theo tricked Randolph by first offering him 300 gold coins as commission and then stating that any loot in the cave, including Randolph's heirloom swords, would be the employer's i.e. Theo's. Randolph became shocked at being tricked and had to accept the commission being lowered to 100 gold coins.

* At dusk, Randolph chucked Theo and Sylvia on his shoulders and rushed to the cave's location using his superhuman physique.
* Inside, the group was attacked by wraiths which Gluttony absorbed due to them being pure magic power. Suddenly, the group was pushed into a dungeon created inside the cave and were trapped.
* The necromancer possessed by the grimoire who had now turned into an Elder Lich appeared and sent the 4th circle magician Theo to the location of his life vessel, known as "Giovanni's Life Vessel," since it could not be damaged by any magic below the 6th circle.
* Meanwhile, he summoned a Corpse Knight created from the body of Randolph's ancestor who was wielding his family's heirloom swords and the Elder Lich and Corpse Knight began battle against the remaining Sylvia and Randolph.
* Despite being even at the start, Sylvia and Randolph began to tire while the undead Elder Lich and Corpse Knight remained the same, thus, the two were thrown into a disadvantage.
* Meanwhile, Theo realized that "Giovanni's Life Vessel" was just an amalgamation of mana and used Gluttony to devour it which eliminated the undead energy and killed the Elder Lich and the Corpse Knight. The sudden influx of magic power allowed Theo to form the outline of his 5th circle.
* In the same place, Theo found grimoire of death "Death's Worship". Gluttony stated that if Theo devoured it there was a minuscule chance of him becoming an 8th circle magician but more than likely his body would be overtaken by Jerem, the creator of the grimoire, and he would die like the investigator Giovanni.
* Thus, Theo decided to confine it within Gluttony's pocket space which he unlocked by having Gluttony devour his space pocket. Finally, the grimoire was sealed away.

* After the destruction of the Elder Lich, the undead horde turned to ash and the villagers and mercenaries feasted. Meanwhile, Theo sent a letter to the Magic Society informing them of the appearance of a necromancer. The capital sent an investigator since the appearance of a necromancer can be fatal.
* The investigator dispatched was a Prime of the White Tower, Shugel, who arrived the next day through the use of teleportation and asked Theo to brief him regarding the incident. Theo lied by stating that he trapped the grimoire inside the space pocket and then destroyed it since he did not wish to reveal Gluttony's existence. Convinced, Shugel brought Sylvia and Theo back to capital immediately under King Kurt III's orders.

### **Elf Rescue Mission Arc**

* As soon as he returned to the capital, Theo saw Vince and the Red Tower Master, Veronica. Veronica instantly became interested in Theo since he was considered a super rookie within the magic towers. She led them to King Kurt III's royal court where Theo and Sylvia received the status of an Average of Red Tower and Blue Tower, respectively.
* In addition, King Kurt III bestowed one wish upon Theo who played the principal role in defeating the grimoire. Theo asked for ownership of a book from the Zero Library. King Kurt III accepted and sent him to the library with Veronica, who along with Blundell and Kurt III, was the only person that could directly enter the library.
* Inside the library, Theo came across many powerful original books such as "Hell Fire" and many other 7th and 6th circle magic books. However, he was unable to choose any of them as most books required one to be a 6th or 7th circle magician while the books with lower requirements required the user to amputate a body part.
* Finally, he saw the book "Battle Song" which allowed a magician to use melee combat, however, it had a big flaw: the need to continuously chant the spell to use the magic. This resulted in a magician's five circles always being in use and crippling their ability to use a wide array of magic.
* However, under Gluttony's advice, Theo chose the book as devouring the book would unlock a new function which would negate its disadvantage. He spent the next six days to comprehend the book until gaining a 95% understanding before devouring the book.
* For the third time since Alfred Bellontes and Myrdal Herseim, Theo was able to use "Synchro" and met Lee Yoonsung, the author of "Battle Song." Theo conversed with Yoongsung and learned of his tragic life. Yoonsung simply passed on his magic to Theo without burdening him with any obligations. Theo also obtained a limited amount of Yoonsung's physical prowess through the "Synchro," however, the amount was limited due to his weak body.
* Afterwards, his body fell asleep for three days to absorb the physical growth granted to Theo by Yoonsung. After waking up, Theo noticed that his muscles had significantly developed to allow his previously frail body to use "Battle Song."

* Then, Theo went to Veronica who had previously stated that she had a way to help him stabilize his 5th circle which was created unusually through absorbing "Giovanni's Life Vessel." She stated that Theo needed to spar with her and push his body to its limit for it to properly assimilate with his superior magic. Thus, she took him to the Pentarium Stadium.
* Veronica had initially expected a boring match, however, she was continuously shocked by Theo's wide repertoire of skills, especially his ability to use "Battle Song" without any handicap. She was even injured by Theo's "Magic Bullet" spell. However, Theo stood no chance once she became serious as her reputation as the strongest magician vastly preceded her.
* The two sparred for a fortnight before Theo was fully able to assimilate with his 5th circle.

* Soon after he became a 5th circle magician, Theo was sent to Bergen County with his master, Vince Haidal, on a mission to apprehend slave traders who were presumably transporting elves.
* The slave traders were working with an organization called Shackler which had at least five aura users, thus, the need to send Vince, a 6th circle magician.
* After arriving at Bergen County, Theo and Vince disguised themselves as commoners to gather information regarding the slavers' hideout. Soon, however, they realized they were being tailed so they casually entered a dark alley where they apprehend the tail who turned out to be Canis, a black market trader with whom Theo had done business with in the past.
* After being threatened by Vince, Canis instantly began talking and stated that he was tailing Theo to do one last business deal with him before escaping from Bergen. At Vince's suspicious look, he stated that he was from the organization which had allied with Shackler to enslave elves. He stated that he was already certain that their greed will be the death of them and that he wished to escape before the capital sent Executors - war mages that execute criminals - to Bergen.
* He made a deal with Vince where he would provide him with the slavers' location and personnel details in exchange for a letter of clemency and some money. Vince begrudgingly accepted.

* A few hours later, Canis returned and provided them with the details and Theo and Vince decided to attack the camp before any changes occured. The two attacked from each side so as to trap all the slavers.
* Theo stealthily advanced while silently killing guards along the way before reaching one of the locations where elves were being held captive. He hid himself behind a crate while observing the guards that included five aura users and seven thieves. Suddenly, a knife was thrown towards him which he barely managed to evade.
* Theo was surprised since he was sure he was perfectly hidden, however, he was unaware that one of his enemies was Canis's boss, an assassin who was extremely sensitive to the sense of smell and had smelled the tiny wound on Theo's forearm. Discovered, Theo decided to begin a frontal assault.
* Soon, he managed to defeat them with only a few minor injuries and then proceeded to free the four elves being held captive. Surprisingly, the elves followed him due to him being the contractor of Mitra, an ancient earth elemental.
* Theo then reached Vince's location who had fought against a Janissary of Austen Kingdom. Vince was initially surprised by the presence of a Janissary but then understood that his presence could only mean that one of the captive was a high elf, a being capable of influencing nature, who could solve the drought that had been affecting the Austen Kingdom for decades.
* Even though the Janissary stated that the Sultan of Austen would owe Meltor Kingdom a favor if he allowed them to pass, Vince decided that it would be much more beneficial to have the northern kingdom of elves, Elvenheim, owe Meltor a favor by rescuing the high elf rather than the destitute Austen.
* Vince prevailed over the Janissary whom he burnt alive but he received severe aura injuries which would require at least a month to heal. Still, Theo and Vince succeeded in rescuing the high elf named Ellenoa and her eight fellow elves.

* The two took the elves to the mansion of Earl Begen, the lord of Bergen County. The next day, the two exchanged pleasantries with Earl Bergen and learned that the elves were being looked after in the annex.
* While the two were returning to their rooms to rest, Theo was called by Ellenoa to talk. She spoke about herself and how high elves are born as females and change their genders to the opposite of the one they decide as their life partner.
* Theo then summoned Mitra to play with her when Ellenoa asked if he wanted her to evolve Mitra into a lieutenant level elemental which could normally only be summoned by an elementalist with over a decade of experience. Theo asked for Mitra's opinion which earned him Ellenoa's goodwill. Mitra accepted and Ellenoa informed him of Mitra's origin while helping her evolve.
* She stated that thousands of years before the dawn of humanity, there lived formless elemental gods. They were connected to nature and, thus, immortal. However, after thousands of years, they began to be worshipped by humans who revered them and deified them into corporeal gods.
* Unbeknownst to them, the gods began to shift away from nature which rendered them mortal with their lifespan being regulated by the number of worshippers. Eventually, humans stopped worshipping the old gods and they disappeared in the annals of time.
* The fate of Dmitra, the goddess of Earth, was the same. From her dying body, many smalls seeds escaped. These seeds came to be known as ancient elementals and Mitra was one of them.
* Theoretically, it was possible for ancient elementals to continuously evolve, obtain divinity and return back to their godly form, however, no ancient elemental had ever succeeded in doing so.
* While Theo was pondering over Dmitra, Mitra succeeded in her growth. She grew from the size of a little fairy to the size of a young child and reached Theo's knees while standing. She even became able to converse in human speech, albeit, with slightly slurred pronunciations such as her calling Theo "Deo!".

### **Superbia Arc**

* A few days later, a convoy of three wind wagons appeared outside Earl Bergen's mansion to escort the Ellenoa and the eight elves to Mana-vil. The members of the convoy headed by Herman Alphen, an elder of the Red Tower, were informed about the circumstances behind Ellenoa's capture.
* As the sixth high elf, Ellenoa's safety held paramount importance. Thus, soon after she was born in the Blue Evergreen Tribe, the tribe informed Elvenheim of her existence who sent half-a-dozen high-levels elves, rivalling 6th circle magicians, to act as her guard and escort her back to Elvenheim. However, before they could even make contact with Ellenoa, they were all killed by someone.
* The convoy realized that someone capable of killing half-a-dozen high-levels elves, without even one escaping, would be at least a master-level existence. Vince, who was injured by the Janissary, decided to stay behind to heal his injuries and also attempt to slow down the one that is after Ellenoa.

* Consequently, the white tower magicians were not able to instantly teleport the group to Mana-vil due to elves naturally weakening most magic used upon. Moreover, a high elf such as Ellenoa would instantly negate the space magic. As a result, the elves had to be physically transported back to Mana-vil.
* The group was aware that they couldn't defeat or escape from a master-level existence, thus, they decided to rush towards Mana-vil while hoping to run into Veronica, who was returning from a different mission, and was rushing towards Bergen County.
* The wind wagons glided along the ground at super high speeds, however, a few hours later, they were caught by the one hunting them. The first wagon which contained Red Tower magicians along with Elder Herman, a former 7th circle magician, went to intercept the assailant.
* After a few minutes, the fighting calmed down and suddenly something round and red fell on the wagon: Elder Herman's half-burned head. The convoy instantly fell into despair at the quick disposal of their strongest force.
* The second wagon, filled with Blue Tower magicians, assembled a formation to hold back the assailant while the third wagon, containing Elleona, Theo and the eight elves escaped into a different direction. Not even a few minutes had passed when grabbed Ellenoa and jumped out of the wagon. Momentarily, a huge beast fell upon wagon and crushed it along with the White Tower magicians acting as drivers and the elves. The assailant revealed itself to be one of the Seven Sins' Grimoire, Pride, also known as, Superbia.

* Gluttony revealed itself and spoke harsh words filled with malice towards Superbia, who countered similarly. Gluttony stated that Superbia devoured species, similar to how it devoured magic.
* By devouring a part of a species, Superbia obtained its genetic code and was then able to use that species' most valuable trait such as a drake's wings, an octopus's tentacles etc. Superbia stated that he had no intention to kill Gluttony's host and was only here to devour the high elf. Despite being given a chance at salvation, Theo stood against Superbia and decided to save Ellenoa at all cost.
* When asked by Gluttony why he was doing "something so irrational as giving up his life for someone he barely," Theo stated that if he cowered once, he would cower twice and thrice and, eventually, he would end up being nothing more than a coward and a weakling. Gluttony stated that he was different from all its previous users that would coldly watch their loved ones dying if it meant they could survive.
* Inspired, Gluttony unlocked its fourth seal and awakened the "Rewrite" function which allowed the user to merge their ego with the ego of one of souls they had previously interacted with through "Synchro."
* Theo chose to merge with Alfred Bellontes and giving him the command of his body. Alfred threw Ellenoa far away to keep her safe and began battle with Superbia.
* His battle sense allowed him to more effectively use "Magic Bullet" which allowed him to avoid Superbia's attacks while dealing small injuries. This lasted until a few minutes when Superbia changed its body into one which could counter Alfred i.e. the use of a special breed of octopus whose tentacles had poison.
* Put into a dangerous situation, Theo decided that he needed to fully merge with Alfred to compensate for Alfred's lack of magical knowledge and skills outside of "Magic Bullet." Despite the dangerous procedure where Theo's ego could be destroyed, he used "Transmission" and succeeded.
* Then, he counterattacked. However, once again, within the span of a dozen minutes, Superbia changed its body into beasts with high fire resistance to counter's Theo's powerful fire magic.
* To escape, Theo was forced to reveal his "Illusion Track" skill. He decided to bet it his all on the next attack and, once again, used his "Illusion Track" skill.
* Superbia scoffed and used the eyes of a beast that was capable of seeing through illusion to locate Theo's location. However, he was shocked to find that none of the illusions was Theo. Instinctively, he looked down to find Theo beneath him and belatedly noticed the a activation of a "Magic Bullet" with Theo's entire arm as the barrel.
* The "Magic Bullet" with the ability to crush all 6th circle defensive spells impaled Superbia's head and caused it to explode. Exhausted, Theo lay on the ground with his broken arm while watching Superbia regenerate his head.
* Just as his death was nigh, Veronica appeared and torched Superbia with her "Hell Fire" spell. Severely injured, Superbia attempted to flee but was met with Veronica's red dragon breath. Still, as a Seven Sins' Grimoire, Superbia's ability to preserve its life was not lacking and it fled.

* Soon after, Ellenoa appeared and sat beside Theo who had lost his consciousness. After returning to Mana-vil, Ellenoa sat beside Theo for over a week, healing his right arm, before she had to leave with Blundell escorting her back to Elvenheim.
* Two weeks later, Theo finally recovered from the mental damage he received from forcibly using the transmission with Alfred. He discovered that he had obtained Alfred's ability to see a few seconds into the future.
* He also learnt from Vince and Sylvia that his deeds from defeating the elder lich to protecting Ellenoa had been publicized and he was being touted as "Meltor's Young Hero." King Kurt III also announced that he would receive the Silver Medal of Merit and hosted a ball under his name.
* A few days later, the ball took place and he was officially awarded with the medal and his peerage was raised to Viscount. Afterwards, Veronica took him to one of the secret locations where the national treasures were buried and gave him Umbra, debris from a special astral plane, as his reward.
* The use of Umbra allowed its user to momentarily become ethereal such that no attack would impact him, however, the drawback was that it significantly overdrafted the user's mental power which left them wobbling.

### **Empire's Delegation Arc**

* Half a year passed since the ball. Theo reached the peak of the 5th circle. After training his mental power for over six months, Theo was still only able to use Umbra to perform six space jumps before collapsing.
* A few days later, all the Superior magicians in the four towers were summoned by the Magic Society President to inform them of the arrival of a delegation sent by the Andras Empire.
* The nominal purpose of the delegation was to discuss the armistice to be signed between Meltor Kingdom and Andras Empire, however, their true reason was to verify the authenticity behind the rumors regarding Theo being a super talented young magician and a friend of Elvenheim. They were also informed that the delegation included the 4th Sword, Pan Helliones, and the 7th Sword, Lloyd Pollan.

* After the Empire's Delegation arrived at the palace and greeted the king, Pan Helliones asked to confirm the rumors about Theo. To this effect, he suggested a duel between Theo and his disciple, Rebecca, who was around the same age as him.
* When asked by King Kurt III about his chances in a battle, Theo confidently stated that he would win without even using Umbra's power. Veronica and Blundell agreed with his statement. Thus, King Kurt III accepted the empire's duel.
* Blundell served as the referee and as soon as he gave the signal, Rebecca rushed towards Theo and used twelve quick strikes through her dual swords. After seeing her swordsmanship, Theo realized that her swordsmanship was the same as Randolph's and guessed that maybe the two were related or studied under the same school.
* Still, Theo deftly evaded the twelve quick slashes and used "Battle Song." He then followed with "Chain Lightning" which dulled her senses despite her aura defense and then used five simultaneous "Lightning Spears" among which she blocked four but was hit by the last.
* Theo decided to restrain his abilities since he had an audience and also restricted "Magic Bullet" which could easily kill Rebecca. Thus, he rushed head on towards Rebecca who considered it provocation and used her strongest technique which turned the area around her into a storm of blades.
* However, he deflected them using Lee Yoonsung's "Shift Energy" skill which caused a lot of wounds on his right arm but allowed him to reach her. As soon as Rebecca exhausted her aura due to overuse, Theo opened all slots of "Shock Impact" to blast her away. Just as he was about to shoot a "Lightning Spear" at her, Pan Helliones intervened and admitted defeat on her behalf.

* Afterwards, Theo was treated by a healer for the injuries he suffered on his arm from Rebecca's aura storm. While leaving the infirmary, he ran into the 7th Sword, Lloyd Pollan, who had directed killing intent towards him after he won against Rebecca.
* Pollan stated that he could kill Theo right here, however, his killing intent was noticed by Pan Helliones. Also, while he was cautious of Theo, he didn't consider him to be such a threat that he needed to cause a war between Meltor and Andras by killing the latter.
* Theo considered himself lucky for not having used Umbra or "Magic Bullet" during the duel as that might have inflated Pollan's opinion of him and he might even have attempted to murder him despite the consequences. Even though Theo was shaken by the pressure of a swordmaster, he was looking forward to seeing who would end up dying when the armistice ended in a decade.
* Then, he went to visit Rebecca to confirm his doubts about her identity. Surprisingly, the guard outside her sickbed allowed him in without any questions. Inside, he learned that Andras Empire's tradition dictated that the loser forfeited their life to the winner, even in a friendly match. It was up to the loser to compensate the winner in exchange for keeping their life.
* Theo stated that he didn't wish for anything and instead asked Rebecca if she knew anyone named Randolph. Shocked, Rebecca exclaimed that Randolph is her elder half-brother. She then went on to state how her swordmaster ancestor went to capture a warlock roaming throughout the empire over 130 years ago but never returned.
* Andras Empire, a place where fists talked, was not a place where a house without power could keep their status. Thus, the House of Clovis lost all its wealth overnight and became relatively poor. Her father, the succeeding Head, was not talented enough to become a swordmaster so he went around looking for young, talented female warriors with whom he could father talented offsprings.
* Of her many half-siblings, Randolph and she were the most talented, however, her family could not afford to raise both of them so they decided to hold a deathmatch between them. However, the night before the match, Randolph left the house so that his younger sister, who was weaker than him, could survive.
* After learning of Randolph's safety, she was relieved. She was even ecstatic when Theo told her that he had found his ancestor's heirloom swords. Soon after, Theo left to allow her to rest.
* A few days later, the empire's delegation left after signing a very disadvantageous agreement where they had to cede a lot of territory, especially after it was learned that Lloyd Pollan had secretly left the banquet and was roaming around the royal palace without any supervision.

* Over a week passed before Theo was called to the office of the Magic Society's President. There, he met the president, Veronica and a talking golem who he learnt was Norden, the Yellow Tower Master.
* He also learnt that the Yellow Tower Master has been around for over 400 years and was the one who personally created the designs for the magic towers and had the greatest contributions to Meltor Kingdom's current prosperity.
* Theo was informed that he would be gifted an elixir called "Sensitivity Amplifier - No. 37" that would increase his close-to-zero mana sensitivity to the highest level possible, even higher than Sylvia Adruncus.
* After taking the elixir right there, Theo suddenly began choking. He described it as the previously water vapor like mana turning into solid ice which naturally made him feel as if he was being suffocated.
* Through Veronica's help, he managed to shake off the feeling and survive. Norden was surprised and believed that the elixir may need more work, however, he was unaware the issue lied not in the elixir but Theo since he never could've imagined that a magician who reached the peak of the 5th circle at the age of 20 would have such low mana sensitivity.

* Afterwards, Theo experienced a lot of problems in spellcasting due to his increased sensitivity since he was unable to control the amount of mana he put into spells. To solve this, he seeked help from Sylvia who was born with a similarly astonishing amount of mana sensitivity. She stated that it would be better for Theo to learn chantless magic now that his sensitivity was maxed out.
* Thus, the two got to work and in just over a month, Theo managed to master chantless magic upto the 4th circle. He was also able to chantlessly use 5th circle magic but required some effort.

### **Guests of Elvenheim Arc**

* The next day, Theo was summoned to the royal court. Surprisingly, he was given a seat in the upper strata of the throne room where normally only elders of the magic towers or a Marquis or Duke could sit. Then, he learnt that the reason for this was because a delegate from Elvenheim was coming to meet him for saving Ellenoa.
* The delegate was a Spiritual Sentinel named Edwin of the Third Beech Clan. Veronica explained that a Spiritual Sentinel was a master equivalent to a Swordmaster or a 7th circle magician. Edwin stated that Ellenoa had invited Theo to visit Elvenheim. This left even King Kurt III shocked who had believed that at most Elvenheim would simply increase trade with Meltor.
* He asked Edwin how many people could follow Theo and was informed "the less the better" and decided that he would sent eight people, including Theo. However, he was put in a bind when Edwin stated that those being sent must at least be 5th circle magicians or they would die before reaching the center of the Great Forest where Elvenheim was located.
* Just when he was pondering upon whom to sent, Orta, the White Tower Master, returned from his mission and volunteered to go. King Kurt III was glad since Orta was someone that could handle the politics of going to Elvenheim.
* He appointed Theo as the head of the delegate and gave him similar authority as Orta, however, he put Orta in charge of selecting the members for the delegation since it was out of the introverted Theo's expertise. Vince and Sylvia qualified for the expedition among the 93 Superior magicians that participated.
* A few days later, Edwin visited Theo and gave him a seed of the world tree, Yggdrasil, on Ellenoa's behalf. After Mitra swallowed the seed, a bud grew on her head.

* A few days later, the delegation left Meltor. Orta first teleported the group to an underground facility close to the Red Plateau which divided the Meltor Kingdom from the Great Forest.
* After exiting the facility and reaching the Red Plateau, the group was confused at the lack of carriages since travelling through the multi-thousands kilometer long Red Plateau required weeks worth of supplies. However, Orta just handed the eight people silver rings that he asked them to wear.
* After everyone wore the ring, he used his space magic which bent space such that each step he took equated to multiple kilometers worth of distance being covered. By sunset, the group crossed the Red Plateau which would have taken a carriage weeks.
* After reaching the border of the Great Forest, the group decided to camp outside till dawn before moving towards Elvenheim. However, soon after they set up camp, Mitra suddenly rushed towards Theo and showed him that a horde of monsters were rushing towards them from afar.
* Theo warned the group and instantly shot a "Magic Bullet" towards an oncoming two-headed Ogre. The spell killed the two-headed Ogre and passed through it before killing eight more Ogre and Trolls.
* The magicians also fired destructive spells that negated the natural regenerative abilities of the Ogres and Trolls. Finally, Edwin summoned Aiolos, an ancient wind elemental, and shot an arrow towards the monster horde. The arrow annihilated many monsters before exploding into a razor-sharp wind that killed over ten thousand monsters. The terrified monsters escaped back into the forest.

* The next day, the group entered the Great Forest with the guides being Edwin, who was familiar with the forest, and Theo, who could "see" far into the forest through Mitra's power that awakened after she swallowed Yggdrasil's seed. Through Theo's help, the group avoided running into any monsters and reached an empty clearing where they set up camp.
* While he was setting up his tent, Theo suddenly heard voices in his head. He learned that the voices belonged to the high elves of Elvenheim who were using Ratotskr, a private neural network of Yggdrasil used for communication.
* Theo heard the eldest and most cheerful female elf, Alisa; the aggressive dark male elf, Alucard; the gentle and feminine elf Lumia; and the sleepy yet wise female elf Naia. Afterwards, Ellenoa used her powers to send a clone to guide Theo's party to Elvenheim. The clone created a path through the forest to Elvenheim.

* After arriving at Elvenheim, Theo and his group ran into the Orlanda, chief of the Stone Lion Tribe and representative of the beasts living in the Great Forest.
* He provoked and insulted the humans since his ancestors had been slaved and ran out of the continent by humans over 500 years ago. Despite being beast, he was cautious and thus challenged Theo to a fist fight after realizing that he must be a magician. However, he was easily defeated by Theo who used "Battle Song."
* Afterwards, the magicians looked around Elvenheim for a few days: some collected soil samples while others collected water samples from the stream. Finally, the high elves called the human delegation to discuss terms. Orta and Alucard were discussing upon terms when, suddenly, the queen of Dryads accessed Ratotskr without permission.

### **Laevaiteinn Arc**

* Enraged, Alucard admonished her but calmed down when he heard her shaking voice. Then, she sent a transmission showing a flame giant wreaking havoc in the forest by indiscriminately burning the trees and the Ents and Dryads that attempted to stop it.
* Naia, the wisest of the high elves, immediately uncovered the flame giant's identity as Laevaiteinn, however, even she was not too knowledgeable regarding it. Theo used this chance to inform everyone about all he had learnt about Laevaiteinn from Gluttony. He implied that he had obtained this knowledge form the Zero Library.
* However, the elves wished for him to communicate through Ratotskr since it was impossible to lie while using it. After providing the details regarding Laevaiteinn, he tasked Alisa to summon Sylphid, the wind elemental ruler, to create a vacuum around the flames to curb their growth.
* Then, along with Alucard and the magicians, he rushed to Laevaiteinn's location where Dryads and Ents were suicidally fighting against it. Theo was anxious since their deaths only served to hasten Laevaiteinn's growth, however, they refused to leave since the forest was their everything.
* Suddenly, Mitra appeared and all the Ents and Dryads fell to their knees. Astonished, Alucard guessed that due to the bud of the world tree on her head, she may be considered similar to Yggdrasil by the Ents and Dryads. Theo asked her to move them and she agreed.
* Then, the magicians, excluding Orta, faced off against Laevaiteinn who was finally freed from Sylphid's vaccuum. Theo directed the magicians to perfectly launch powerful spells to slow down the charging Laevaiteinn. After 15 minutes, Laevaiteinn, who was unable to gain any more energy, forcibly began the evolution to its third form.
* Theo, who had been waiting for this, had Allucard summon El-Mare, the water elemental ruler, to douse the flames and rushed in towards the grimoire which had finally revealed its true self: a shining white bead. He slowly walked towards Laevaiteinn in the level of heat which melted his skin despite the defensive magic he used.
* After walking five steps, he finally used Umbra which allowed him to walk another three steps, leaving him two steps from the grimoire. He took another step which began melting his bones and organs before stopping one step away from the grimoire.
* He realized that the moment he took the final step, he would die. However, undaunted, he advanced once more since he already once overcome sure-death before in his fight against Superbia. Just as he took that step, Gluttony suddenly swallowed the world-ending grimoire that was unable to escape.

* Back in Elvenheim, Orta remained behind since he had sensed the presence of a swordmaster who was the most likely culprit behind the sudden appearance of Laevaiteinn.
* Orta instantly guessed his intention of assassinating the high elves left in Elvenheim while the power of Yggdrasil was weakened by Laevaiteinn. This was because at least four high elves were needed for Yggdrasil to continue existing.
* Orta judged that the swordmaster in front of him was most likely the replacement of the 3rd Sword or 6th Sword who died in the last war, the latter of whom he personally killed. Despite being a magician, Orta didn't try to distance himself from the swordmaster.
* Angered, the young swordmaster took it as disdain and attacked Orta only to have his ear cut off. He was shocked by Orta's speed and maneuverability. Their battle ended in the swordmaster losing his right arm while Orta suffered some inconsequential injuries.
* Meanwhile, Theo was struggling while Gluttony was fighting to devour Laevaiteinn. Finally, Gluttony managed to devour Laevaiteinn while Sylvia and the magicians rushed to treat Theo who was close to dying due to the heat trapped in his body. Impressed by Theo, El-Mare poured her healing water upon Theo which expelled all the heat from his body while Alisa began treating him.
* Theo, however, was busy thinking about the outcome of devouring Laevaiteinn. He obtained the "Ring of Muspelheim" and a maximum affinity with fire. Any fire spell that he used would use half mana while he would be 50% resistant to hostile fire.
* The group returned to Elvenheim where they met Vince and the Red Tower magicians who were useless against a fire based monster and were instead sent to capture the thugs used by the empire's swordmaster to throw Laevaiteinn inside the forest.
* Orta arrived with the arm of the swordmaster and gave it to a Blue Tower magician who was able to track a person using their blood. He also informed the Alucard and Alisa of the swordmaster's goal of assassinating Ellenoa, Lumia and Naia remaining in Elvenheim.
* Enraged, Alucard and Alisa realized that only the empire would benefit from the high elves' death and Elvenheim falling into a state of emergency. They thanked Orta for protecting Elvenheim.
* Later, the high elves held a banquet to honor the magicians from Meltor that saved their forest from being burnt. During the banquet, the high elves casually mingled with the humans without any barriers. The banquet was held on one of Yggdrasil's highest brances that was over 10,000 meters high.
* Ellenoa took theo even higher up to a hut called the "Foutain of Wisdom" and stated that the Sage - Myrdal Herseim - had predicted the appearance of Theo many years ago and that he had stated the hero must be sent to the foutain.
* Theo entered the fountain and drank from it using a gourd made of Yggdrasil's seed. The fountain allowed the anyone who drank from it to learn the answer to one question. Theo imagined his time with Myrdal Herseim and he appeared.
* Gluttony behaved nervous in front of Myrdal and became angry when he attempted to inform Theo of some secrets about the Seven Sins grimoires. He then informed Theo that due to his incorrect use of the grimoire, he only has 4-5 years of life left before disappearing.
* Theo stood in stunnned silence. He then exited the hut, walked around with Ellenoa for some time before returning back to Meltor Kingdom. He had become a 6th circle magician but he didn't inform the king of this.

### **Journey to Central Continent**

* Theo questioned Gluttony about the reliability of what Myrdal said and received an affirmitive response. He asked if there was a way to survive and Gluttony gave him three options
	1. Sacrifice the souls of 100,000 people, be they good or bad, to increase the size of his "Vessel"
	2. Increase his karma i.e. leave his mark behind in history by performing acts that influence the lives of others
	3. Devour original books to increase the size of his "Vessel"
* Theo instantly rejected the first option. For the second option, he was surprised since he had already done some major things such as stopping "Death Worship" and an Elder Lich who could have grown into a worldwide catastrophe and stopped "Laevaiteinn" which would have destroyed the entire world the same way it destroyed the Age of Mythology.
* However, Gluttony stated that grimoires are outside the laws of causality so he didn't accumulate any karma through those acts. In fact, it stated that capturing a group of bandits would gain him more karma.
* Finally, Theo was unsure about the third option since according to Myrdal the reason he was in the current predicament was due to devour books and magic. However, Gluttony stated that while that is true, he also obtains a portion of the soul of the authors of original books when he devours them. Thus, his "Vessel" or soul grows each time he devours an original book.
* Theo decided to leave the Meltor Kingdom and venture to the Kargas Kingdom in the Central Continent to obtain original books since Meltor didn't discrimate between original books and copies.
* Naturally, the king was unhappy when he heard this since Theo was the hope of the kingdom. Not to mention, he was likely to be near the top of the empire's hit list. He even offered to grant him ownership of another original book from Zero Library and allow him to rent as many books from there as he wished.
* However, Theo stated that this journey was necessary for him to grow and reach the 6th circle. Naturally, Veronica, who was also present, had instantly seen that he had already reached the 6th circle, but she didn't say anything.
* Finally, the king allowed it and Theo made up a rumor about being struck by enlightenment and going to experiement so that his whereabouts wouldn't be known for some time. He travelled with Bear, merchant of the Polonell Company, one of the largest trade companies of the Northern Continent. He used an artifact gifted to him by Vince to change his black hair and green eyes to brown hair and blue eyes to disguised himself. He also introduced himself as Theo.
* During the journey, Theo spent his time by reading Vince's book "Ancient Magic Overview — Balcard" written by him after decades of research into the ancient Balcia Empire's magic system that was much superior to the modern magic system.
* A few days later. the entourage stopped outside Sipoto Plains prior to dusk since many dangerous monsters were active in the desert-like plains at night. However, suddenly, Theo sensed the presence of a group of hostile men riding camels. Using his hawkeye, he realized that they were bandits from Austen Kingdom. He informed Bear of the enemies who quickly had the mercenaries draw their weapons.
* Theo, however, realized that the mercenaries wouldn't be able to deal with them since one of them was a high-level aura user equivalent to peak 5th circle magicians while the rest were also quite strong. Thus, he lured the high-level aura user and the remaining aura user towards him by shooting multiple fireball spells that hid gale blade spells behind them.
* One of the aura users mockingly cut through the fireball spell only to have his neck cut off by the following gale blade. The bandits realized that Theo needed to die and their elites rushed towards him. Meanwhile, Theo used the artifact given to him by Norden that allowed him to summon six high-level "Living Armor" to help the mercenaries.
* Theo faced off against the fierce bandits but after a while he realized that the bandits were all using the same style of swordsmanship and were extremely disciplined. Something like that would be impossible for lawless bandits that gathered from different regions. He realized that the bandits were in fact Austen's regular army led by a Janissary.
* Shocked and anxious, the "bandits" realized that Theo needed to die otherwise Austen Kingdom's reputation would be destroyed if people learned that the Sultan ordered his soldiers to loot merchants. They madly charged towards him which, in fact, caused them to easily fall into Mitra's sandtrap. The Janissary managed to free himself and aimed to kill Theo but had his head cut off by Theo's use of Balcia Empire's gale blade spell.
* Bear was charmed by the powerful Living Armors and pestered Theo to sell them to him since they were much more powerful than knights and were supremely loyal due to being a construct. However, Theo just stated that he didn't have ownership of them and that they were merely loaned to him.
* After reaching Sipoto, the most bustling city inside Kargas Kingdom, Theo parted ways with Bear who gave him a plaque of the Polonell Company which would allow him to obtain classified information or enter restricted events. Theo thanked him and went off to find the Information Guild run by the "King of Mice."
* He found its location and used the passcode, both of which were given to him by Canis. On the other side, he met Gibra, the head of Sipoto's branch of the Information Guild aka the "King of Mice." He informed Gibra about his commission of buying original books. Gibra informed him that soon the yearly auction would take place where all kinds of things will be sold.
* Theo hired Gibra's services to bid in the three auctions that would take place in the north where miscellaneous goods, such as original books, would be sold. During one of the auctions, he managed to obtain the second volume of "Introduction to Elemental Magic" while bidding against Old Books Maniac Heinrich who stopped bidding after looking at Theo's sincerity. Overall, he was able to obtain 23 original books from the three auctions, among which two were "Rare" while "Introduction to Elemental Magic II" was "Precious."
* The next day, Theo went to the underground auction being held in Central Sipoto and ended up in a bidding war against Orcus Company for "Charlotte's Necklace" which allowed the user to create unlimited wraiths and banshees from amongst the evil spirits wondering around the world. According to Gluttony, this would allow Theo to continuously create wraiths and banshees which Gluttony could devour to increase the size of his soul.
* For normal people, the necklace was just a necklace since they wouldn't be able to create wraiths and banshees which only black magicians or a grimoire could do. So, he expected no one to really give him much of a fight for its bid. However, the Orcus Company was dead set on getting it. This made Theo sure of the rumor Gibra had told him about the Orcus Company dabbling in black magic.
* As a result, Theo had to win the necklace to prevent it from falling in the hands of a black magician and causing a catastrophe even if it meant offending one of the Central Continent's three largest trading companies. Their fierce bid continued until it reached ten times the original bid i.e. 300 gold coins. The auctioneer decided to have the two parties talk it out.
* However, since neither Theo nor the Orcus Company's agent was willing to back down, the two decided to hold a Duel Bid where both parties would appoint a representative who would fight on their behalf with the winner obtaining the bid upon item.
* The Orcus Company's agent chose a Death Knight whom he had covered in black plate armor from top to bottom. The Death Knight was known as the Black Knight due to his armor and was infamous for being able to crush an Ogre's head with his bare hands. On the other hand, Theo chose Randolph Clovis whom he had met during his days of sightseeing.
* Three days later, the two fought with many of the underground auction's participants acting an audience. Randolph had grown close to a being a swordmaster, however, the Death Knight was a senior undead that could not be easily defeated. Thus, the stalemate continued between the quick Randolph and the strong Death Knight.
* Nevertheless, eventually, the Death Knight began accumulating injuries that chipped off pieces of its armor. Afraid of its bony physique being revealed, the agent, who was a necromancer, forced the Death Knight to quickly finish off Randolph. However, this caused the Death Knight who had retained its swordsmanship from its life to unnaturally attack Randolph who nimbly dodged its strike and used his ancestor's "Rain Swords" to use "Thunder Strike," a three-attack combo that allowed him to slice the Death Knight's finger and forearm in two strikes while the last strike sliced off its torso in half.
* Normally, this would've been the end, however, the Death Knight was still able to fight since it's head was undamaged. Still, Isaac, the agent of Orcus Company, had his attendant throw a rug upon the Death Knight so that the audience wouldn't be suspicious of the lack of blood.
* He then admitted to Theo's victory and was forced to pay 300 gold coins for the "Charlotte's Necklace" whose ownership would go to Theo. Theo then decided to sent the report regarding Orcus Company dabbling in black magic to a liason of the White Tower and planned to leave Sipoto the next morning before the Death Knight was restored.

1. ↑ Chapter 13,14
2. ↑ Chapter 18
3. ↑ Chapter 19
4. ↑ Chapter 21
5. ↑ Chapter 25
6. ↑ Chapter 29
7. ↑ Chapter 30
8. ↑ Chapter 30,31
9. ↑ Chapter 37
10. ↑ Chapter 40
11. ↑ Chapter 42
12. ↑ Chapter 43
13. ↑ Chapter 44
14. ↑ Chapter 46
15. ↑ Chapter 50
16. ↑ Chapter 51
17. ↑ Chapter 53
18. ↑ Chapter 59, 60
19. ↑ Chapter 70