Shepherding Humanity

Their 200 years of imprisonment had been extremely long and lonely, it was only natural for them to be excited when such an unusual creature appeared before them.

A decrepit mage who had given up all hope was now pressing himself against the black iron bars while shouting: “You, that block over there! Do you want to become my disciple? You’ll get to inherit my Ouroboros School of Magic! If it wasn’t for the Emperor of Alchemy, I’d have been the strongest Mage of my era! I’ll find you the most suitable training method!”

“Bullshit!”

Another ancient magic caster snorted. He leaned against the bars and furiously glared. “My School of Magic was clearly supreme! Back in the days, countless genius young Mages knelt down and begged to become my disciple, but I refused them all. Being able to learn from me is a great honor! If you kneel down and call me master right now, I’ll reluctantly accept you as my disciple!”

“Look at the loser who lost to me talking big…”

As everyone argued, a wizened beastwoman emerged from darkness and addressed the gathered mages through the bars.

“Stop squabbling. I’ll teach her.”

The room instantly turned silent. No one dared to speak. This woman was the ruler of the Beastmen Kingdom, Emery. She was a monster among monsters, and her name alone was enough to make these greatest of Legendary Mages retreat.

Emery shakily moved around in her cell, then suddenly frowned and spoke up: “Why don’t we all teach her together? In our era, we’ve all lost to the Emperor of Alchemy, but our knowledge must not die with us. Perhaps, our shared disciple will be able to become the second Emperor of Alchemy!”

They were the strongest mages of their era. If it hadn’t been for the Emperor of Alchemy, then in that glorious age where geniuses kept appearing one after another, they would have…

But now, they were being asked to lay down their pride and share a disciple…

Emery angrily scolded them: “You’re picking sides even now? Do you want your magic to be buried with you? Outside, the Evil God has invaded, and our entire world is in danger. A second Emperor of Alchemy must appear among us mages to lead the world out of this dark era. Is this really the time to hoard your precious magic?”

Her audience silently pondered her words.

While they may be power hungry, they were not heartless, and had already heard from Charlotte about the Evil God Cthulhu’s descent. An ancient terror has returned, and even Empress Medusa was powerless against it.

One of them smiled coldly:

“If you won’t teach her, then I will! We were very lucky to have been born in the Emperor of Alchemy’s era, but that was also our greatest misfortune. We’ve lost to him all our lives, but if our disciple could…”

“I’ll teach her! The results of my lifetime of hard work must not die with me!”

“Don’t start her training yet! Thanks to her special trait, magical runes can be carved onto her body. Using Charlotte’s Mental Space Magic as the basis, we will each integrate our own unique magic and engrave upon her an all-encompassing magical pattern that has all of our abilities!”

“Ha ha ha! We’ll surpass the Emperor of Alchemy! If he could pioneer a new path, then who says we can’t do the same!” Someone else declared. Though he was old and decrepit, he was now full of energy. ŔÀɴò₿Ёṡ

These prisoners were mighty lords who once dared to rebel against the Emperor of Alchemy. They were titans of the Great Magic Sects, and even had the Harpy Queen who once ruled the Beastmen Kingdom among their numbers.

They’ve grown old and did not have long left to live. They could end their lives as failures any moment, but still, they wanted to leave behind proof of their existence.

A year passed, then three years.

In the outside world, the Evil Gods have all become Level Two Mages. The faster ones have even reached Level Three.

But Pandora was still an ordinary person. Although she had been full of ambition when she first entered, she was now the weakest player of them all. Even those lackadaisical storytellers and wine brewers were far stronger than her.

“The Evil Gods outside have begun to stir! They’ve gotten too strong. It’s time we start her magic training, or else she’ll only be a Level Three or Four Witch when the Evil God Cthulhu recovers. She won't be able to handle that world-ending cataclysm at this rate…”

“But we’re not there yet! We need a little more time!”

“Her rectangular body is extremely sturdy, like an unforged sword. If she were to use her spiritual energy to forge herself into a holy sword, she might be comparable to the legendary Sword of Damocles!”

“You’re crazy! That’s impossible!”

“It’s not impossible! We have to give it our all! The Sword of Damocles is the holy sword God gifted to mankind. No one knows what it’s made of, but in my opinion, the material of this rubik’s cube is very similar to what’s in the records!”

“Heresy! Heresy!”

The mages heatedly argued.

Even the prison warden, Charlotte, had joined in. They argued until their faces turned red in order to find the optimal solution.

In the fifth year, their research was finally complete, and Pandora started her magic training amidst everyone’s great expectations. Half a month later, the pitiful girl was finally a Level One Witch. She couldn’t help but weep.

It took me 5 years to become a lowly Level One Witch…

Pandora was grief-stricken. Reality was harsh indeed.

“Wrong, wrong, wrong! For this Wind Magic, you must step on the tip of the wind!” A legless mage who was sitting on a wheelchair scolded her. “Try again!”

“My alchemy class is up next this afternoon. I was the greatest alchemist of my generation!”

“Wrong! Wrong again! Our spiritual magic, The Eye of Eternal Night, is illusion magic. If you want to bewitch others with your eye technique, you must first see through the God within you and have no fear!” Charlotte, who had gained a second life and was now in her prime, was also teaching Pandora. She was a very strict mentor.

In this room half a month later.

“I’m reminded of that novel where the main character was left in a Den of Notorious Villains as a baby and was raised by them. These ancient monsters from 200 years ago are teaching me their unique skills. I'm learning alchemy, spiritual magic, curse magic, defensive magic…

When it’s time for me to leave, the entire world will tremble. I’ll vanquish those hateful 7 PKers outside!

Those damn invading Evil Gods, I’ll seal them and drive them out. I’m finally a First Level Mage, and already have spiritual power…”

Pan Yusean thought this and reached for the plant on the table before her.

This was the moment of truth. It was time to test the magical pattern engraved upon her by those ancient mages.

“At my level, I won’t be able to pull in a human soul, so I’ll have to test my spiritual magic on a plant.”

She started casting Mental Space Magic on the plant before her, but nothing happened when she focused her mind.

The plant’s supremely weak soul remained unmoved.

The mages around her turned pale with shock. Could it be that they’ve grown senile in their old age and created something utterly useless?

“Impossible!”

“Why aren’t you able to pull in the weak soul of a plant?”

“According to our projections, you should be frighteningly powerful even at Level One. What’s going on?”

“This is wrong!”

“But where did we go wrong?”

“No. Something did happen.” Charlotte suddenly noticed something, thanks to her extremely sharp spiritual senses. “Nothing happened to the plant, but a grain of sand in the flowerpot has vanished.”

“Right, could it be…”

“Hurry, check your mental space!”

In the prison, countless mages had shocked expressions on their faces.

Pan Yusean was stunned. When she silently probed the mental space within her, she found a floating grain of sand.

Not only can I draw in others’ spirits, I can also put in physical objects?

“This is.. Spatial Magic? Since I can store objects, I’m a… Bag of Holding?” Pan Yusean was incredulous.

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