The Wizard Has A Biochip

Besides, if I wanted a true magical assistant...

I would need to acquire an enslaved Acolyte.

Those were absurdly expensive.

And that represented another problem.

Acolytes could think.

Plan.

Betray.

They had ambitions.

They were not as simple to control as ordinary people.

Naturally...

I knew they existed.

Specialized markets sold Acolytes like any other commodity.

Especially prisoners of war.

Or criminals captured by Mage families.

For many Mages...

These were the best experimental materials.

They could withstand much more magical radiation than ordinary people.

My gaze became distant for a few seconds.

An unpleasant possibility naturally emerged in my mind.

If the Arcangrove Tower completely fell during the war.

Most of the Tower’s Acolytes would probably end up exactly like that.

Behind bars.

With collars.

Sold for experiments.

Or transformed into slaves.

Only those belonging to truly powerful families would escape such a fate.

I remained silent for several seconds, looking toward the west.

My expression inevitably became heavier.

Jane and Tinod noticed my silence.

Neither of them dared to say a single word.

A short while later...

The sound of approaching wheels interrupted my thoughts.

I looked toward the road.

A black carriage was rapidly approaching.

Two enormous black horses pulled the vehicle.

I soon recognized the driver.

Kant.

As soon as the carriage stopped...

He immediately jumped down to the ground.

He bowed deeply.

— Young Master.

He took out a bag.

He carefully handed it over with both hands.

— The carriage cost...

I interrupted him by raising my hand.

— No need to explain.

I took the bag.

Without even checking its contents...

I threw it toward Jane.

She caught it immediately.

— From now on...

I looked directly at her.

— You will manage our money.

— Whenever you need more resources...

— Just inform me.

She carefully hugged the bag.

— Yes...

— Young Master.

Inside that bag remained only human currency.

Gold.

Silver.

Copper.

Nothing truly important.

Ordinary money was easy to obtain.

The true wealth was hidden together with my magic crystals.

Those...

Were infinitely more valuable.

I observed my three new subordinates.

After a few seconds...

I made a decision.

I slowly extended my hand in front of my face.

I deactivated the transformation spell.

Instantly...

I felt the muscles of my face move.

The bones slowly returned to their original positions.

My height decreased slightly.

The color of my hair returned to normal.

When everything was finished...

My true face had returned.

Much younger.

Without the fake scars.

Without the hardened features.

Jane discreetly widened her eyes.

Tinod and Kant simply remained silent.

Their training probably prevented them from even displaying surprise.

I looked at the three of them.

— You will work with me daily.

— Sooner or later, you would learn my true appearance.

— Therefore, there is no reason to continue hiding my face from you.

The three deeply lowered their heads.

— It is an honor...

— Young Master.

I then looked at the carriage.

I slowly climbed into the vehicle.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

On the wide road, our carriage advanced at a constant speed, raising small clouds of dust with every turn of the wheels.

Outside, Kant and Tinod occupied the coachman’s seat.

The two enormous knights wore metal armor, long swords hanging from their waists, and a single glance was enough for any sensible traveler to understand that it would be better to find another path.

I saw farmers driving carts and herds abandon the road long before crossing paths with us.

No one wanted to provoke men of that size.

Inside the carriage, however, the atmosphere was completely different.

The smell of freshly varnished wood mixed with that of lacquer heated by the sun was unpleasant. I discreetly wrinkled my nose.

Then another scent filled the environment.

Perfume.

I slowly turned my head.

Jane remained seated beside me, her hands resting on her lap, maintaining the impeccable posture that had certainly been taught to her over many years.

Her simple cotton dress contrasted with her extremely pale skin.

I smiled.

— Come closer.

She immediately raised her eyes.

— Yes, Young Master.

Without any hesitation, she moved closer.

I gently held her arm and made her recline slightly on the padded seat.

Then, I rested my head against her chest, settling in as someone who had finally found a comfortable pillow after weeks of sleeping in improvised tents.

My hands naturally rested on her thighs.

Even through the thin fabric, the warmth of her body was evident.

Jane shuddered for a moment.

Her face immediately turned red.

Even so, she did not try to pull away.

As my maid, obeying my orders was part of her training.

She simply took a deep breath, controlling her own embarrassment.

— Is it... comfortable, Young Master?

I closed my eyes.

— Very.

For the first time in a long while, I felt my body completely relax.

During the past few months, I had lived suspicious of every merchant, every traveler, every shadow behind the trees.

Every night of rest could end with some idiot trying to kill me for half a dozen magic crystals.

Now...

I had money.

Two knights.

An assistant.

A carriage.

After a few seconds, I felt Jane’s pale, milky hands hesitate above my head.

She seemed to be silently asking whether she had permission.

I did not answer.

She understood.

Her hands began slowly sliding through my hair, massaging my scalp with gentle movements.

It was surprisingly pleasant.

I let out a long sigh.

While she continued stroking my hair, I organized my thoughts.

My next objective was clear.

I needed to reach my final destination as soon as possible.

There, I would build a laboratory.

I would manufacture my mana potions.

And finally find an efficient method to break the bottleneck that trapped all Acolytes.

Every Acolyte encountered an obstacle when attempting to reach Level III.

Learning spells was only part of the process.

The true problem was raising mana to ten points.

Countless geniuses failed precisely at this stage.

Even Official Mages rarely possessed a truly efficient solution.

Most of the time, all that remained was to meditate for years...

...or spend fortunes on extremely rare potions.

Unfortunately, I now belonged to that group.

My mana remained practically stagnant.

I opened my eyes for a moment.

— Biochip.

[Beep!]

— Report.

The blue interface appeared before my eyes.

[Plant Blood Mana Potion]

[Analysis progress: 100%]

[Forest Soul Mana Potion]

[Analysis progress: 78%]

[Karn’s Teachings]

[Decoding progress: 63.7%]

I frowned.

The Plant Blood Potion had already been completely analyzed.

The problem was something else.

Some of the ingredients simply no longer existed.

I would need to conduct hundreds, perhaps thousands of experiments to discover compatible substitutions.

As for the Forest Soul Potion...

It had remained stuck at the same seventy-eight percent for months.

It was as if a single impossible-to-deduce piece was missing.

Strange...

The formula provided by Professor Totil was certainly correct.

The Biochip rarely made calculation errors.

If it had stopped exactly at this point...

Then there was some variable completely absent from its database.

I thought for a few seconds.

Then a hypothesis emerged.

...A soul...

The words escaped almost unconsciously.

Perhaps that potion did not depend only on ingredients.

Perhaps there was some spiritual procedure impossible to represent solely through alchemical formulas.

That would explain why even the Biochip could not complete the analysis.

As for Karn’s Teachings...

I smiled discreetly.

Sixty-three percent.

Even using extremely sophisticated encryption, it was only a matter of time.

The Biochip never grew tired.

While I slept...

Traveled...

Ate...

It continued calculating.

Sooner or later, that diary would be completely opened before me.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts aside.

At that moment...

The carriage suddenly braked.

My eyes opened immediately.

— What happened?

Kant’s firm voice came from outside.

— Young Master, please remain calm.

— Only some bandits blocked the road.

— Tinod has already gone to deal with them.

I did not even need to leave the carriage.

Soon, I heard shouts.

— Attack!

— Kill them!

Then...

Clang!

Crash!

Metal against metal.

Swords colliding.

Then came the screams.

— AAAAAAH!!

— My arm!!

— Run—

The last one did not even finish the sentence.

A few seconds later...

Silence.

Only the wind.

Tinod spoke calmly.

— It is resolved.

Immediately afterward, I heard the creaking of the wheels again.

The carriage began moving once more as if absolutely nothing had happened.

That was exactly why I had bought two knights.

Small problems should be solved by them.

My time was far too precious to waste fighting roadside thieves.

...

1413 Words