NOVEL NEXT 53. Mystic Machinations
Location: Mystic Confluence Grove, Himalayan Mountains, Nepal
Pandora’s Actor PoV:
Amidst the snowy expanse of the Himalayas, a figure with silver hair and a matching beard moved with quiet grace. This scholarly man, characterized by an aura of profound wisdom, cast contemplative gazes upon the vast landscapes that unfolded before him.
Draped in a modest robe reflecting the colours of earth and sky, he wore a pendant bearing the symbol of Athena—a disguised world. Clutching a well-worn scroll, his presence exuded both humility and scholarly authority.
A young man of around 20 years old came running towards him and spoke while taking a breath:
“Master Gandalf, we have defeated the demons summoned by those sorcerers.” He waited patiently for Pandora, or rather his disguise Gandalf to respond.
"Excellent. You can head back to Kamar-Taj. I'd like to linger here a bit longer." The young sorcerer acknowledged the dismissal with a bow and departed. Elders in the realm of sorcery often displayed peculiar habits. In contrast, Master Gandalf habits were deemed relatively unremarkable by young sorcerers.
‘It’s about time I send back information to Nazarick~.’ Pandora thought, resisting his urge to salute or bow exaggeratedly as he watched the young sorcerer departing.
He was currently here to guide novice sorcerers in training the mystic arts by killing rather weak demons. Nothing special, really.
What was remarkable was being considered a master in the mystic arts by sorcerer’s of Kamar-Taj so soon. It had only been a couple of months since he had infiltrated Kamar-Taj and he was already considered influential.
How did this happen? Pandora had considered various routes to assert Nazarick's influence over Kamar-Taj, including using knowledge from the grand library, defeating the Triumvirate and Caius, or controlling Caius to manipulate the selection of the sorcerer supreme."
Of course as this was not exactly how things had played out and so Pandora had to keep modifying his plans as when necessary.
Firstly his knowledge of Kamar-Taj at this period of time was rather limited, so Pandora expanded his know-how for a few days before making a plan. Getting into Kamar-Taj was surprisingly easy. Suspiciously so.
Maybe he was simply prepared to face the worst that he did not expect things go so smoothly. This was something he was still wary of and the reason why he had held off on sending back information about the mystic arts sooner.
In any case, Caius, the sorcerer supreme in the making, had arrived at Kamar-Taj shortly before Pandora. Despite this, Caius was also considered a master of the mystic arts like Pandora was. It made sense that he would be able to defeat the Triumvirate and become the sorcerer supreme within a year of his coming to Kamar-Taj.
Knowing this, Pandora planned to initiate both option-1 and option-3. He did not use Nazarick’s magic yet but had started discussing his knowledge in the fields of philosophy or mathematics with sorcerers of Kamar-Taj while slowly displaying his abilities in the mystic arts.
The Triumvirate would be considered famous thinkers and so they loved whatever knowledge he had displayed and valued him a bit more. Learning mystic arts was not difficult for someone like him.
He had also earned significant popularity among his fellow sorcerers in Kamar-Taj, as aspiring novices painted his persona in the likeness of the stereotypical wise sorcerer, adding to his growing popularity.
While he may have not learned this multiverse’s mystic arts, he was no stranger to magic itself.
Delving into Kamar-Taj’s magic, he found striking similarities to a form of magic he already knew of. That’s divine magic used in YGGDRASIL. Yes, both of these types of magic used energies obtained from other dimensions or godly entities as the source of their abilities. Shalltear was an example of someone who used this magic.
Of course, there were differences as well. After all, divine magic was something that was not invented in this multiverse. The sorcerer’s here moulded these energies into different magical constructs from scratch to display the effects they desired.
For denizens of Nazarick, magic was something instinctual. An organism did not need to know how their body worked in depth in order to control it. This was something instinctual. This was not to say that no one in Nazarick knew how magic worked.
There were vast records of the inner workings of magic in the Grand Library, left behind by the Supreme Beings. For the servants of Nazarick, magic was but a tool to serve the Supreme Beings. They had been designed to know how to use magic instinctually and that was all that mattered unless ordered otherwise.
As such, they did not mould mana from scratch to use the magic but simply thought of the effect they desired to display it. One could think of the process as being entirely automated and coded into the very fibres of their existence.
There were positives and negatives to both approaches. Power aside, Nazarick’s method of using magic was certainly more convenient and the process was simpler but the user was restricted to only using specific spells.
Kamar-Taj’s magic was tedious but allowed far greater flexibility in terms of use. This reminded Pandora of something that Lady White had informed him as well the guardians. Apparently, she predominantly used 2 different energies for magic.
The mana they were familiar with as well as something called MA energy to conjure magic. Although he did not understand her wisdom entirely, she said that the ‘system’ that was used in YGGDRASIL was a convenience tool to help use magic easily and instinctually.
In contrast, she could create magic from scratch through the art of ‘conjuring’. She did not do so if YGGDRASIL’s magic already had the effect she desired as it would be a wasted effort. Pandora felt he was starting to understand what she meant now.
It seemed that at the base level, multiple different forms of magic followed a similar principle of moulding magic but this process was simplified for the denizens of Nazarick by the Supreme Being’s while creating them.
Understanding this truth he was able to uncover the mysteries of the mystic arts much easier. Despite this he was faced with a dilemma during his efforts to master the mystic arts. Pandora obviously could not call upon the power of Vishanti to use the mystic arts.
That would be suicidal. The only alternative, or rather, the correct path forward was to use the power of the Supreme Beings instead. Luckily, he was able to use Lady White’s immense magical powers to drive the use of the mystic arts instead.
And as his powers grew, so did his disguise abilities, making them even more impeccable every step of the way. Now, onto talking about the other option.
After analysing Caius’s character, he could certainly be seen to have the self-sacrificing character that a sorcerer supreme is supposed to have. A sense of duty to protect the world if you will.
Despite this, he also had great pride befitting of someone who had his origins in Sparta. The way of thinking ingrained in him from his upbringing in Sparta must also have been the reason he will choose to challenge the Triumvirate for the role of Sorcerer Supreme instead of having them hand it over willingly.
Along with this, he also had a great drive for learning the mystical arts and acquiring knowledge. Any smart individual here knew that knowledge equalled power and it was the knowledge that Pandora displayed that got him in Caius’s good books.
Caius might even have considered Pandora’s Actor a friend and Pandora’s meticulous act made this friendship seem even greater. Pandora’s Actor had not yet gained control over Caius, but plans had already been made to do so.
All that could be said was that poor Caius would bring upon himself his own downfall for pursuing the forbidden fruit of knowledge. Taboo knowledge that would lead right into the arms of the Supreme Beings and being him the grace of Lady White. Yes, he would be led onto the rightful path by Pandora personally as he was after all Pandora’s ‘friend’.
Pandora himself felt no remorse or glee for what he was doing. He was not like Demiurge to gain happiness from such acts or like Sebas to feel remorse. This was simply a duty he was doing in order to accomplish the orders of Lady White.
He had also clandestinely gathered information about the recent occurrences within Nazarick, keeping a keen ear to the ground for every whisper of Lady White's actions and even the infiltration attempt by Amora.
His awareness spanned the entire spectrum of events, and it appeared that among all the NPCs in Nazarick, he was excelling the most in his duties. Thinking of this and noticing no one around, Pandora finally saluted as withdrawal symptoms started catching up to him for not doing so.
“The information will be delivered today, meine Göttin~“ He said to no one in particular, but he knew the omniscient Spider Goddess must have been able to hear him. She was a Supreme Being after all.
Having gotten that out of the way, Pandora’s Actor fixed his act just in time as a portal opened behind him. The young sorcerer from earlier had returned to see Master Gandalf standing like a statue in the same position as earlier as if nothing was able distract him pondering the mysteries of magic.
“Master Gandalf, the sorcerer supreme has summoned all the masters, including you of course, to discuss something important immediately.” He spoke.
“Lead the way.” Pandora replied in a slow manner mimicking ‘wise’ mannerisms according to a book which was taken from the vast collection of tomes owned by his creator: [How to Cultivate a Wise and Regal Presence: A Beginner's Guide in 100 Simple Steps]. It was but one of a series of books about acting, a gospel in the ways of acting handed down to him by Lady White.
Pandora knew that this meeting was requested by the Asgardian’s for some reason. By combining the information he had received so far, he could come up with multiple reasons for this action.
Regardless, as a servant of the Supreme Beings, he was obligated to drive the currents caused in this encounter toward a favourable direction for Lady White. As Pandora entered the portal, he was filled with glee thinking about Lady White’s pleased reaction to what he presumed to be a job well done so far.
***
Hey, everyone! I finally have a chapter out for this fic just as I had promised in my other one. In fact, this chapter was also supposed to contain the follow up about Agatha Harkness, but I’ll leave that for a future chapter.
From the next chapter, the space arc will probably begin and I have a few things planned for that but if you have any interesting space related ideas related to marvel or stuff that can be tied into the lore of the story, you are always welcome to comment about it and I will include them as when appropriate as I have in previous chapters. As a sidenote, try out my other fanfic for more Shiraori. there are 6 chapters out already for that one and I’ll see you in the next chapter.