"It's time, Noah."
"I've raised you for so many years and spent so much money, all for this moment."
"Go to another world and find me the 'Luminous Starlight' that possesses infinite magical power."
"When the time comes, we will..."
Wearing a crown and a thick black cloak, the old man — about fifty years old with very thick white hair — passionately described his grand vision to the handsome young man on the sofa.
However, as the only listener, the boy just yawned in boredom and lay on the sofa, holding snacks in one hand and a beauty magazine in the other. He ignored his father's ambitious words and treated them as wind.
After King Faust finished his passionate speech, the second prince Noah spoke slowly, "Dad, do you really believe that Adrasi named Ivan Dolea?"
"The idea of endless magical power sounds ridiculous. If you ask me, just stop chasing it. If the magic power in our world dries up, then it will be exhausted. Wouldn't it be better to let things return to normal?"
Noah's lack of interest infuriated Faust. He looked at his son with a determined expression and said in a voice not believable for someone his age, "Why should I return to being ordinary? I must change the fate of Edlas! I want to be even better than God!"
Noah shrugged and didn't respond.
This world is called "Aedras," and there is an extraordinary energy in the earth — magic.
This energy can empower various magical items and give them incredible "magic." The profession that uses magical items is called a magician.
Countless years have passed, and as time went by, the magic power of the earth gradually weakened, and now it is on the verge of exhaustion.
The "End of Dharma Era" has arrived in the world of Edlas.
But the radical king of the human kingdom, Faust, was unwilling to give up this extraordinary power, so he hatched a bold plan.
He would plunder the magic of another world.
The kingdom possessed a super-subspace magic called "Anima," which can temporarily connect to the parallel world of Ascalante, a world where even the air is filled with magic particles and magic power is dozens of times more abundant than in Aedras.
"Anima" can transform the magic power of the world of Ascalante into magic crystals and transfer it back to Aedras.
However, since the world of Ascalante is rich in magic power, humans there are born with magic power in their bodies, and most magicians do not need magical props to cast spells. There was a chance that "Anima" would teleport Ascalante people to Aedras along with the converted magic power.
Eighteen years ago, when Faust activated "Anima" for the second time, an unlucky Ascalante was teleported over.
His name was Ivan Dolea, a wizard who specialized in illusion magic.
When Ivan discovered that the power level of the world he came to was lower than that of his original world, his ambition expanded rapidly and he attempted to replace Faust's rule.
However, due to the depletion of magic power in Aedras, Ivan was unable to obtain magic replenishment, and in the end he was captured alive after his magic was exhausted.
Faust originally wanted to execute Ivan, but the spineless man knelt and begged for mercy, offering a plan that could bring endless magic power to the world.
According to Ivan, in the world of Ascalante there is a magic guild called "Fairy Tail." Although this guild is bright and helpful, it has a dark side — the "Lumen Starlight," which possesses endless magic power.
Faust believed Ivan's words.
As a similar parallel world, Aedras also had a wizard guild called "Fairy Tail."
They were just and helpful but prone to causing trouble, so they were driven out of the capital by Faust long ago and assigned to assist the Kingdom Army in building border cities. Eighteen years later, Noah heard that they now had a good relationship with Erza Netvoka, the commander of the Second Kingdom Army stationed on the border.
Although he believed Ivan's words, King Faust was unhappy with the man who easily sold out information about his former power.
So Ivan did not receive the treatment he expected; instead he was sent to prison, where he spent eighteen years.
For eighteen years, for some unknown reason, whenever Faust was in a bad mood he would go to the prison and beat Ivan to relieve himself.
After learning that there was "endless magic" in the parallel world, Faust also tried to use "Anima" to lock the Fairy Tail in that world.
But every attempt failed.
The reason was that there was an extremely powerful being in that guild, far exceeding the upper limit of what "Anima" could bear.
Then an idea flashed in Faust's mind. Since he couldn't get it by force, he might as well send a spy to the guild to steal the "Lumen Starlight."
The people in the kingdom who were loyal to Faust were not capable enough, and Faust did not dare entrust capable people with the heavy responsibility, so he started the "man-making" plan.
Using his own genes and those of his deceased wife, along with extremely precious pure magic power, Faust successfully used an artificial womb to cultivate an artificial baby born with magical power. The child was named "Noah."
To make Noah loyal forever, Faust decided to bind him with family affection, so the hard-hearted king began to play the role of a good father.
But what Faust had not expected was that after several years of getting along, he was the first to be influenced by family affection, compared to the young and naive Noah.
The acting became real, and Faust gave all the love he owed his eldest son to Noah.
Noah did not inherit his mother's dark blue hair; he had his father's white hair, and he looked somewhat like his brother, whom he had never met.
With excellent genes and the best resources, although Noah had just reached adulthood, he was already the strongest human warrior in Aedras. He mastered superb martial arts and combat skills and was very familiar with all kinds of magical props.
Although Faust was very satisfied with his son's growth, there was one thing that always bothered him.
Noah's behavior was too lazy. Except for the fixed training time each day, he basically stayed in the palace and loafed.
Seeing his son smiling foolishly at the beauty magazine, the word "idle" was almost written on his face. Faust was furious. How could he have spoiled his good son like this?!
Faust knocked the snacks out of Noah's hand, stomped on them in front of him, then snatched the beauty magazine and tore it up... though he hadn't even read it.
"You little bastard, you eat my food, drink my drinks, and use my things."
"When I ask you to do something, it's either windy or rainy! You've even put things off until you're an adult. Are you playing tricks on me?!!"
"I'll ask you one last time — Ascalante, are you going or not?"
Faust put on a sour face and gave Noah the final notice.
But Noah was still lying listlessly on the sofa. He had experienced too many scenes like this in the past two years. As long as he pretended to be dead, he could make his old father helpless.
"Asshole!"
After cursing, Faust's angry expression quickly vanished and was replaced by a triumphant smile.
"Stinky boy, when you came back from training today, did you notice that something was missing from your palace?"
Hearing Faust's strange tone, Noah could no longer pretend to be dead. Based on his understanding of his old father, he was sure coercive measures were coming.
Noah took a quick look around the familiar palace and immediately found something wrong. All his magical tools and weapons were gone!
Before Noah could figure out what his father was planning, the palace began to shake violently, and a beam of rich, golden light blasted through the structure from top to bottom, locking onto Noah precisely.
The powerful flow of magic in the light made Noah float upward. He recognized this magic he had heard of but never seen: the super-subspace magic "Anima" that hadn't been activated in eighteen years!
No — it was the reverse activation of "Anima"!
Dad wants to forcibly teleport me to Ascalante?!
Although he saw through Faust's plan, Noah was unable to break free from the Anima lock due to the innate magic power in his body.
"Don't struggle. After eighteen years of charging, the power of Anima is now beyond your reach."
Faust strolled up to Noah. Except for Noah, the Aslantes had no magic power in their bodies, so unless they actively entered the light beam, they would not be locked by the "Anima."
"Noah, this is the last lesson your father will teach you."
"People are treacherous. Even the closest people might do something bad to you behind your back."
Noah's face showed neither surprise nor displeasure at being betrayed. Instead, it revealed helplessness and reluctance. "At this point, you still want to play the villain and lie to me. Dad, can't you just tell me the truth?"
Faust was stunned for a moment, then revealed a bitter smile. "You really did notice..."
"Of course. Is there anyone who knows my own body better than I do?"
Noah opened his palm. He was an artificial human and the only human in Aedras who could contain magic power in his body.
This difference put Noah in great danger in this world.
The exhaustion of the earth's magic power was just an evolution from extraordinary to ordinary for most humans, but for Noah it was a fatal change.
Because he was born with magic power, if that magic disappeared Noah was likely to suffer from "magic deficiency syndrome." No matter how strong his physical fitness, he would decline to death at an incredible speed.
Noah knew this very well.
Faust also knew he couldn't gamble on that small probability. He no longer cared about endless magic power. He only wanted his child to be safe.
In the brief silence between father and son, Noah was about to be pulled out of the palace by the beam of "Anima," leaving him only one minute to say goodbye.
"Noah!"
Faust suddenly called his son's name loudly and threw an object the size of his palm into the teleportation beam.
Noah grabbed the magic item that flowed back along with the magic power. This exquisite little figurine of a humanoid mechanical dragon was actually Aedras's most powerful weapon — the "Dragon Rider"!
Noah never expected his old father would actually hand over the national treasure.
Looking at his son, who was growing taller and taller in the beam, Faust seized the last opportunity to speak. "If you see your brother Gerard in Ascalante, please tell him a message on behalf of the king."
"Father, I... I'm sorry for him."
Noah smiled easily. It felt good to see tenderness in his old father's heart at the time of parting.
But he couldn't let his old father get what he wanted.
"Dad, I won't relay your words."
"When I come back with my brother and the method to save the magic, you can talk to him in person!"
"Dad, you have to take care of yourself too! Wait for us to come back!"
The pale golden light became dazzling, and the brilliant glow flashed and then disappeared along with Noah.
Faust stared blankly at the sky, which had returned to its blue and white color, and he seemed to have aged several years in an instant.
You have to take care of yourself too...
Noah.