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Chapter 23: The Reason for the Update

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A big question:

What is the Magus Archive?

For most players, it’s a sea of knowledge like that of the library but with more in-depth and more profound descriptions and guidelines, graphs, procedures, and even level by level, step by step explanations regarding almost every topic one would want to study on.

Yes.

It’s a library, just like any other library that can be seen all over Terroa’s walled cities.

But the difference of the Magus Archive and of the instant libraries is the fact that everything in the Magus Archive is hand written by none other than the easy to be irritated…

“I told you already, don’t ask me questions! Just read!”

“Take it easy on the kids, Gabriel. It’s not everyday that they get to see a living legend.”

Gabriel Etrama De Raizel.

Arch Mage.

The hero of the Tuscan Battle.

Conqueror of Chambal.

Former Emperor of Tiara.

And an old geezer with large round rimed glasses and silver white hair.

“I heard that! Who said I was old?”

“Relax, Gabriel, no one’s saying you’re old.”

“Yes, that’s right, great Sage of Tiara. For the only old person here is the one you are seated with.”

No one knows who that childish voice and words came from but Gabriel glanced at Janus for a moment and then turned back to writing something on the giant book in the middle of the giant cave-like hall.

Then there came giggles from two distinctively, yet, seemingly identical voices, that made Janus blush and clear his throat. Forcefully. Twice. With the second louder and longer than the first.

“As I was saying, Gabriel, aren’t you going to at least get out of this prison at least once?”

“Master Janus, as much as it pains me to, you already told me that there is nothing we could do. He’s here, just like you and her… destiny had started moving.”

“Sigh… you are right. Such schemes. Pegasus really did quite the work on us.”

Gabriel, watched by the observant eyes of the youth leader in one shelf corner with books regarding monster materials and resources, momentarily stopped on his scribbling and looked as if he paused to think.

From behind the leader, the twins tugged in a book and tapped his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t you think it’s a bit odd?” Said Rocky while the other, Ricky, narrowed his eyes on Gabriel.

“Yeah, even if we’re murmuring, he can still hear us and can even read our minds like some ESP capable Mage or something.”

“Can’t the two of you stop it already? The old man’s a busy guy.”

“I HEARD THAT! WHO SAID I WAS OLD?”

From the white haired scribe, he raised his head and fixed his glasses, glaring over the direction of the three like an old man who relied on his glasses.

Studying this old man, his appearance actually betrayed his recorded and commonly understood age. Supposedly, he should be at least a few thousand years.

In fact, everything about him seemed to be the same as old man Janus, with minimal lines in the face and a still youthful aura emanating from his shoulders. Perhaps the only defining trait about him that gave the impression of his immortal age was the way he relied to his glasses.

Either further or closer, when writing or checking who entered the Archive, he would always look around him with chin held high and glasses on his nose.

And while this yell of irritation came loudly from the said man, the three perpetrators of the “whispers of old” only giggled as they gathered to read a certain book Rocky tugged in.

[The Magus Journal]

“Hey, you noticed too?” asked a fourth person, the one with pink hairs, cheerful smiles, and young vibrant skin that befitted her petite Tekz figure. “These books aren’t printed.”

“Yeah.” Said the fifth one, and brushed the silver and black hair that dangled on her face. “They’re all hand written with a few splashes of ink here and there.”

“And it looks really old.” Ricky added and the group of youth inclined players gathered in one table.

At that, the leader took the [Journal] and opened it on the first page. There, the words ‘…I couldn’t help but to write everything that I have discovered for I know that someday, people will learn of the truth that exists in this world.’

It sounded ominous at some point, but the five exchanged looks and gulped, smiling at the same thought that danced in their foreheads.

Ominous = dangerous = fun = awesome!

Call them extreme but to them, Terroa wasn’t just a place where pros gather to work.

For them, Terroa is a place for adventure. At first, they also thought of going professional, acquiring strength and experiences, learning tactics and strategies, get all the necessary things to be treated as invincible, then start an adventure for the sake of gaining things to be sold for cash.

Perhaps 85% of the users are on-league with this.

But then they met Janus individually. Introduced to each other by the old man and became buddies all throughout their adventures together.

They learned that Terroa, above all else, is still a game and for any other game, it was meant to be enjoyed. In fact, there are even times when Janus would stare at a far away place, especially on the day that the War of the Two Powers broke out, and let go of a long held breath with a sad expression.

Janus said that although it was part of the game, waging war with the purpose of revenge and sacrificing precious time and resources, especially avatars and the loss of friends, was just plain wrong.

At that time, they saw an alien ship descend from the sky and at the next moment, Mooran Fortress burned.

No one would forget how surprised Janus was that day.

It was the first and last time they saw this unstable emotion on the always laid-back and relaxed old man.

“I heard that!”

From across the gigantic hall, Gabriel’s young voice rang with the tense of irritation. And, as always, Janus would always assure him that no one said the thing.

At that, the four looked at each other, blinking, then lowered their heads after a nod.

“From now on. No one must say, nor even just think of anything that relates to any one being…”

“Hey, who said I’m being old?!”

“Gabriel, just focus on me, will ya.”

“Master Janus…”

After the apologetic tone from Gabriel, the five youth nodded at each other and then Ricky pulled up the book that they wanted to see.

[The Magus Journal]

“I feel like if we read this, we’ll get an extra rare quest or even a mission. Should we proceed?”

The leader looked at the pink haired Archer and smiled at her gesture before rubbing his hands.

“Just remember, no matter what we see here, we must pay in mind that we are only doing this for the sake of research. We shouldn’t always rely on the… on Janus to pull us on a quest. We must also learn how to find it ourselves.”

The group nodded and he held the book in his hands.

“Ready?” he asked.

They nodded again.

He opened the book and at that moment, flashes of light engulfed their eyes and the feeling of being sucked into a vacuum space crawled on their skins.

The white light became blue, then it became rainbow, then changed into a multitude of other meshed up lines of colors forming shapes and figures, including voices.

The panicked bunch held hands as they felt ground had touched their feet.

And before they could actually let go of a panicked sigh, they laid eyes on a lively market place that had no tinge of the industrial atmosphere of a modern Terran Walled City.

Their panic vanished and a sense of wonder came.

People in bright colorful clothes, armors, and tunics, in old Greek fashion but with a touch of east and other western cultures walked the streets.

The armored people carried large weapons, not like the usual knight appearance of the old movies.

No shields, not even a touch of technological detail on their designs. They just plainly looked like armors and weapons forged from large monster materials, made to actually fight large foes.

Bulky bodies and ragged faces were filled with scars, and even the mages had a slightly larger build than the usual Mages of the modern times.

In short, these people, men and women, were all those that was trained to the art of combat.

No. Perhaps, they grew up in the face of combat.

In the minds of the five youth, their appearance meant that they were far more skilled than them who only relied to modern technology to fight.

At the market where they emerged, no panicked sighs nor reactions came out. Instead, it was replaced by the sounds excited “Ooh” and “Wow” as the members of the youth group looked around the market place.

It was then that they noticed that other people were looking at them and they exchanged glances to confirm if they were actually there.

But to their surprise, they heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Wooooooooowwwwwww…!!”

And a teen boy with pure white hair walked off and went through Rocky. The Mage yelled in shock as she saw the white haired boy excitedly carried his bag to get close to the market stalls while Rocky only touched his body and tried to pull the grinning Ricky to repeat the sensation of a person going through you.

BAG!

“Get a hold of yourselves!”

With an explosive sound, the twins went sitting on their behind as The Mage delivered them both a smack.

“But leader, where are we?” Asked the also amazed Tekz Archer.

“I don’t know.” he answered and his eyes fell on the man whose eyes shone the bright star of wonder. “But if my guess is right, we’re inside the Journal and that we are actually seeing are the things written there.”

To that, the four had amazed reactions and also glanced over the white haired boy wandering the market place.

“I guess in order to get out of this place, we should at least try to follow the lead character.”

At the proposal of The Mage, the four started to walk, like invisible ghosts who eavesdropped and peeked on the things that the young Gabriel had seen.

*********************************************

After the short bright light that came from a corner of the giant hall, Janus summoned two tea cups filled with light brown liquids.

One was at the direction of the busy writer while the other was already on his hands.

Seeing this, Gabriel glanced over the liquid and then he smiled at Janus who also smiled back as he offered a cheers to the man.

“Since when did you learn to enjoy human products?”

“Just lately.” and he took a sip. “I find the taste of this particular Cappuccino rather enjoying and relaxing at the same time.”

Gabriel took the other cup and removed his glasses as he took a chair opposite of Janus.

After a sip, “Hmm, it’s… alright.”

“Hehe. You’ll learn to enjoy it in time. Like I told you, you have to go out of this cage once in a while to enjoy the new world had to offer you.”

Another sip, Gabriel let go of a warm “Aaahh.”

“Perhaps I really do needed that vacation. How long has it been since I buried myself in this pile of books? A trip here and there would be a good change.”

“You should enjoy this calm before the storm. The Archive wouldn’t go anywhere.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

At his words, the two looked at the direction of the corner where the flash of light came earlier.

“I’m worried about them. I can’t stop travelers from going in and out of the Archive and using it as a bridge to go somewhere else. But to those who stay inside to read one book or two, they always tend to come back later with a more greedy intent to use these knowledge on their own benefits. Since that day, fifty years ago, I have lost all trust to the Travelers from another world.”

Janus had a sad expression as he sipped his cup.

“I can’t blame you. Fifty-six years ago, the War of the Braves changed Terroa for good. We can’t go back to the original life we once led and we can only proceed and endure the coming of the storm.”

“Speaking of that storm, will it be… deadlier… this time around?”

Janus paused and took the gaze that Gabriel threw at him with a calm expression.

He reached a hand and summoned a mask, black and lined with red edges, the eyes were gold and layered with the modern anti-glare technology of the humans.

The mask wasn’t a full face mask but rather a domino who gave the impression of the phantom of the opera.

This is the mask of the player who’s steadily gaining attention all over both worlds.

“He was the start and the end of it all.” He only said and took the cup to drain it off of its light brown liquid.

At that, Gabriel glanced to the large book and the large pages measuring a few meters wide flipped on the very beginning of the book.

In there, the turning pages stopped into an introduction written by the same man who sipped Cappuccino at his side. Janus’ signature was written in clear letters.

“Continuing your work wasn’t easy, Master Janus.”

“Of course it isn’t. And no one is even making you do this work in my stead.”

“But if I don’t do it, then the memories will be forever forgotten. Especially what happened in the War of the Braves.”

“Like I said, Gabriel, destiny had already been written even before we gained our first breaths. Those two’s destinies are written in stone. One way or another, they will finish the war they started,”

“Him and The Oracle…”

Gabriel’s eyes shed tears as he closed his eyes and sipped through his cup.

In his mind ran the memories that happened 56-years ago. The War of the Braves, a retaliation of the Terran and Human forces against a full force invasion of the LAGRAM Alliance.

They won the war but cost the lives of the Braves.

Sacrificing their time to give the future a chance to fight back and prepare. Back then, the Archive was still close to anyone but Gabriel opened it with the thought that the Terrans and the Humans will use it wisely.

But through time, this purpose was already forgotten. A place of knowledge to fight against evil now used as a bridge to cause scandal and mischief.

Anyone with the access to the entrance to the Archive can use the magic of Teleportation once for every visit inside. With the help of personal relocation magic, the range and capacity of the transported individuals or even objects can be increased.

The once noble purpose of the Archive changed dramatically in just 56 years.

Almost to the point of breaking his heart, Gabriel shed the tears of his fears of this world being destroyed.

“This… person.” Gabriel glanced at the book and the pages turned near the part where he was currently working. But instead of the latest, it was a few pages away from the newest. “Is he really the one that triggered the awakening of time?”

“Yes. And we could only be glad that Rogue is yet to regain his memory when they met.”

“That war not long ago?”

Janus nodded wearing a melancholic expression.

“You’ve seen what he’s capable of. His boundless evilness never changed. Even I can’t predict a thing on his actions.”

“Is that the reason why you are here?”

Janus sighed and refilled his cup with the brown liquid.

“Sorry to trouble you, Gabriel. But while the kids are away exploring your memories, can I borrow your time to use this chance to update myself?”

After that, the pages of the giant book turned to the next page where a few words in black ink began to shine in bright gold.

In those words that only the Muans knew, the name Rogue shone brilliantly.

But the name suddenly changed, and instead of Rogue, it became a more menacing name. A name that only meant trouble, mischief, evil, and pure cruelty.

Rogue, in this version of the «Book of Legends» is called by the name Mefisto.

And seeing that made Janus frown.

“Tsk. Oh Pegasus… you vile, evil man…”