Chapter 110: Love


    Baking is fun and enjoyable. I always found something special in making food for others, especially when ites to the sweeter side of cooking. Even though you are feeding a lot of empty calories to people, it will be the highlight of their day. While talking to their family after a day of work, the father will talk about the incredible croissant he had for breakfast, not the in sandwich he had for lunch.


    And I always craved that recognition, the <em>love </em>of someone you can feed. Its a natural instinct for me, a need to be <em>worthy</em> of something. And even though I dont care about wider recognition, I care <em>a lot</em> about it in a smaller, one-on-one setting.


    But now, something is different.


    I look at the book where new ink appears to give me yet another life lesson, and I cant help but think Ive never felt like this. Ive never felt this warmth in my chest for something other than love. Is this love?


    Baking is as easy and rewarding as ying a video game, but theres always something that makes it tiring. I cant bake non-stop like this. My brain simply wouldnt work, and it wouldnt want to work.


    Magic is different, somehow. It grips the chords of my soul in a way that I never expected possible. It consumes my attention like dating Penelope Cruz in her twenties would have.


    Is this why I have not gained even a level in [Baker]? Is my heart simply refusing to acknowledge myself as a baker? Is it just a hobby? My brain feels like Jell-O, and this thought slides in against my will. Normally, Id ignore it, but my weary state makes it so that Im floating and bouncing ideas around, not under my own purview; it just happens.


    Am I Joey the [Baker], or am I Joey the [Mage]?


    Suddenly, another thought intrudes.


    Should I have foreseen Lucindas intentions? Was it really about trust, or was it more about not wanting to see the truth?


    As mentioned previously, trust and kindness are the two most important things in the world. But I wonder if I wasnt just lying to myself.


    <em>Was there a part of me that wanted to test Lucinda?</em>


    My dreamy state volunteers a new question, a whisper of my subconscious.


    Was I really intended to test her? Was that the reason I gave her my magic, to see if she would leave me afterward?


    I purse my lips before ending up in a rueful smile. That smile bes a sigh as my thoughts run rampant.


    I am not a [Baker], I say aloud.


    It was not the first time I thought it. It was a factual statement, a simple acknowledgment of reality. But s, even reality can hurt. Or should I say that <em>especially </em>reality hurts?


    Im a [Mage], I say with a smile.


    See, thats the thing. Theres some relief when I say such things aloud.


    Im a [Mage], I repeat.


    I mean, Im also not a <em>[Mage]</em> since my ss is a tad moreplicated than that. But lets talk about thatter. A man is entitled to his little secrets.


    I look at the book.


    <em>This lesson is true for every profession, dear student. It doesnt matter if you are working as a [Bricyer] or as an [Archmage]. Confidence is paramount for your magic. You will find that some challenges can only be ovee when you have <strong>overestimated</strong> your capabilities. Being prudent is good for the dangerous daily life of an [Archmage], but if you dont know when to be adventurous and heroic, you will only be a glorified [Mage]. [Archmages] are meant to be the pinnacle of the world. They are what moves countries around. They can spell  mark the pun, student  the beginning or the end of a war</em>


    The book makes new ink appear just below.


    <em>Be careful about moving around, student, but when you move, be relentless. </em>


    For the first time since I started using the book, I feel a bout of pride take over my heart. I feel the same foolishness of a young knight ready to go to battle. I cant help it. I feel like Im getting closer to a level of existence that I have only read about in fiction.


    I inhale the stale air in my room as if it came straight from the Garden of Eden.


    Book, show me thest Cantrip.


    The book turns a page, and something different appears this timeits not the usual jet-ck ink. Its deeper, and its emitting a profound aura, thick with Mana.


    I blink.


    Then, I blink again.


    I blink another time, just to make sure.


    This is not my room, is it?


    Im in a huge room lined with pearl-white walls. There is thick energy around me, and the environment feels richer than anything Ive ever experienced. A huge chandelier hovers in the middle of the room, levitating halfway through the ceiling.


    The first person able to clear the hardest trial, a voicees from behind me.


    Turning, I find myself staring at a middle-aged man wearing a simple white robe, in tone with the rest of the ce. His eyes, though, have multi-colored irises that <em>shine </em>slightly.


    I would have expected a Vanedenis to be the first toplete this. But my book was indeed not <em>that</em> well-made. I tried my best, but it ended up being a fatal contraption. Its actually surprising that you made it and are still alive. After that stupid Dragon had raided my treasury, I figured that my consciousness and myst gift to the world would rot in her cave.


    I realize my tiredness has gone away and that my mind has never been sharper.


    I think you have many questions for me. But let me anticipate some of them if you dont mind. Im Magister Mulligan, but my real name is Lord Juler. Im from the Epodes family, and even if you were to know Vanedenis Lore, you wouldnt know <em>me</em>. Just know that Im Lord Juler, [Supreme Archmagus] of my era and probably many others. Only the very ancient records that go back to the fall of the Dragons document of a stronger spellcaster than me. I helped Skier and Fer win their war, but magic was always my focus. I have brought the Hydras low, without them even realizing. That puny little snake with seven heads tried to oust me. He could have hoped to defeat me with nine heads, maybe. But dont allow an old man to reminisce so much. You are currently seeing a projection of the consciousness I had infused in the Omnium Compendium. Ive been watching you, Joey Luciani, and Im surprised that


    My brain finally catches up to where this conversation is most likely going.


    WHOA! I have to stop you right there! Vanedenis? You are one of Viliths people? Oh, hell no, I say, putting my hands up. Im not fighting that war on your behalf! Hell no!


    I start backpedaling and looking for an exit from this hellish ce. Im 100% sure there isnt one, but looking for it cant hurt. I think.