Rising Against Fate

The break after Razak's match ended, and Ren's battle was ongoing. But despite the ongoing match, judges were still in shock due to the last match.

Normally, one would assume that a group of three senior judges would think somewhat similarly. However, in this jury, everyone's opinion was different from one another.

The old man had a grin on his face, which was making Naoki think that he was definitely hiding something. While, in fact, there was nothing of that sort. The grin on his face was simply the result of pure excitement.

Tadashi, on the other hand, knew that the old man was just showing his excitement. He wasn't that big of a thinker if the matter wasn't related to his research and science, and he certainly had no interest in politics or whatever the clans or anyone else was doing. All he knew was 'that the boy's abilities could hardly be considered logical.'

It could be that the boy's parents were from the Avem and Kage clan, but the child born from such a couple usually only had one parent's ability as dominant. For example, Kamin could use both of his parents' skills, but he could only use the ice magic that he inherited from his father to a proper extent. And in comparison, his use of the wind magic that he inherited from his mother was just limited to just a basic level.

"Doctor, what do you think about that boy?"

Tadashi was startled when Naoki asked that question out of nowhere. He was lost in deep thought, and if it were his assistant instead of Naoki, who disturbed him in that state, he would have gotten a mouthful from him.

He strongly believed that the uninterrupted deep thought was his way of peeking into the abyss of knowledge, and the answers to all his questions were there.

However, he could understand Naoki's position here. He had tried seeking the answers from the old man, but he simply refused him. His response was so twisted that it was hard to even tell if he knew the answers to those questions or not. However, the awe on his face was saying that he, too, was surprised by the boy's ability.

"What I think…"

The Doctor paused there and took a long breath. This pause was to collect his scattered thoughts and come up with a response.

"...One would require a phenomenal amount of training to attain that level of control, and without inheriting a clan's abilities, I would say it's impossible. But that's not what surprises me…"

The Doctor paused again and took another long breath. This time he started thinking about the boy's past performances and different aspects of his skills that he showed in those matches.

It was obvious that he was mentally more m.a.t.u.r.e than most of the participants. His physical abilities were on par with someone from the Monku clan, which was regarded as the strongest. And his emotional control allowed him to use the right spell at the right scale.

"Is there something else?"

It looked like he went too deep into his thought and kept Naoki on hold for long. He quickly collected his thoughts together and came up with a response.

"The boy is too perfect for a magician. I have never seen anyone with such an incredible amalgam of physical, mental, and emotional fitness."

Naoki looked confused. That was a natural reaction because, as far as it went, no magician was perfect. They had their own set of strengths and weaknesses, be it physical or mental.

"But how can that be? Even clan kids who grow in an environment suitable for a magician to grow; develop some kind of weakness sooner or later. The only way to make that possible would be to make an emotionless magical doll with a mechanical mind and body."

"No, it's possible to attain that level of perfection by biological means using genetics. At least theoretically, that is. But the First genetic lab utterly failed when they attempted that. Their fifty years of research produced no remarkable result whatsoever."

The old man, who was listening to their conversation, hummed, so the two turned towards him.

"It was a remarkable idea. I myself supported the project back in the days. If it had worked, things would have been a lot different; we could have even won the war. However, as we feared, the Magical vessels, or should I say the artificial bodies that were created, lacked the most important component that a magician needed — a soul. And now we know that such a feat is only possible if we can combine the dwarven technology with ancient elven knowledge."

At this point, Tadashi would have loved to shout 'it's possible by what we have!' on the old man's face, but he couldn't. He had no concrete evidence to back his claim with. In the end, he just lowered his head and suppressed the developing emotion.

He was a fan of the man who conducted that research to the point that he was devastated when he found out he died, or rather, disappeared. He still had a little hope that he must be alive somewhere.

He was just a novice researcher when Edward was in his glory days. He respected him, not only because of his research papers, but also because he was someone who climbed his rank from zero. He found him relatable because, like Edward, he wasn't from any clan. And all he wanted to do as a young man was to walk in the footsteps of that great man — his hero Edward J. Hood.

He knew that at this point, he was nowhere near Edward's level. But he had vowed that someday, he would reach the point where he can prove that his hero's research was correct. He wanted to prove that he wasn't mad as others assumed; instead, he was a genius whom no one could understand.

"The winner of this match is Ren Ongaku!"

As he was thinking along those lines, Ren's match ended with her as a victor. Her opponent couldn't land a single hit since he was hypnotized by her abilities from the start. His aim was completely off, which gave her an easy win.