Shades of the New World

"Next is the World of Emotions. Its ruler is the griffin queen Librack. Griffins became one of the more influential races in the South alongside the colossi thanks to her. Mages of the World of Emotions usually have superb control over others. It's also perfect for the Islands, since most of the denizens there are very instinctual creatures. The World basically allows you to dictate which emotions other people will feel strongly and which they will not feel as much."

"It is mostly used in wars where there are a lot of soldiers to boost morale and minimize the risk of panic and chaos in the ranks. You can use it while negotiating or bartering with other people, but it's very hard to hide the fact that you're influencing them. You can guess what kind of reputation a merchant who influences their buyers would have"

'Another scary World,' Evin thought with a shudder. One would think that there would a be tons of conceptual mages in the world after hearing about the powers of the related Worlds, but the fact that eighty percent of all mages are elementals suggested that learning conceptual magic is very difficult.

'I'm quite interested in what the last two Worlds are,' Evin thought with anticipation.

"What's next?"

"I'll tell you about both of them at the same time. One is the Heavy World, and the other is the World of Time. Their rulers are respectively Two Tales and Twelve Jokes. Authorities commissioned by the Empress herself"

Evin thought it fair, since she has to have some kind of hold on the World, one way or another. But from what he heard, she rarely participates in the political scene of the four countries. Or perhaps the magical scene in the World is a bit different from the political scene.

"Are they the Empress' way of monitoring the world?"

That was the only thing he could think of for now. Mages could access Worlds from everywhere in the world, so they would make a great way to see what is happening everywhere in the world. But Aran simply shrugged and chuckled.

"Why would she need that? She is the almighty of Alvox, she can just will it and her opponents will lose their access to all the Worlds. I'll tell you a story. There was once a country mad enough to attack the Black Tower. What do you think happened to them?"

If even half of the things said about the Empress is true, there can only be one outcome to that battle.

"They died?"

"They were the race of dragonshifters, a special race that could transform into dragons partially and exert some of their powers. Not veritable dragons like The Lau, but still, immensely powerful beings. They could stand atop every other race on the country, but their pride did not allow them to bully weaklings like us. They wanted the ultimate throne. The throne above the continent.

They rallied their army and marched towards the Black Tower. But the moment they shot their first wave of spells towards the Tower City, the Empress waved off the spells and warned them that the consequences of their actions will be born by all of their race. Heedless of her words, the army continued its attack. But after a sigh from the Empress, all the dragonshifters in the entire world lost their ability to think"

'What the hell does that mean? The Empress can even decide who can think and who can't?'

"An entire race devolved into creatures that couldn't even take two steps by themselves. They could only breathe, sleep, and eat when they were hungry. And they couldn't even do that properly. When they got hungry, they would start trying to bite their own limbs and tails off. When they felt the pain, one could see the making a shocked and panicked expression.

Soon after, they realized they could eat others around them. The children and the elderly were the first to be eaten by their loved ones. The madness spread beyond the dragonshifters' kingdom and the situation forced the bordering countries to wipe out the mad race out of existence"

"Well, some opportunistic people also tried to rear them as their pets. I believe that some of the dragonshifters still alive, living as exhibits or weapons in the houses of various influential people"

"That's just too extreme, isn't it?"

If the Empress could turn an entire race into a bunch of vegetables, she could've done a million other things to settle the matter. The genocide of an entire race just seems too radical.

"Yes, some think that the entire race of dragonshifters were just part of her plan to get the rest of the world in line. But honestly, who knows what the Empress thinks. She's there and there's nothing we can do about it. I also recommend you to not think about it too much"

That is probably the best choice Evin could make. He always wondered whether the various gods on Earth were real or not when he was wandering around as a ghost. And thinking about it now, their existence did not really matter much at all. God was like his imaginary friend that he could complain and vent to. He could entrust him with his hope and dreams. He lived through those three hundred years believing that someone was watching his troubles and when that someone decided it was time, he would be liberated.

But in the end, it turned out that the almighty was slacking on his job and that 'God' himself was the reason Evin had to suffer. But how could he blame that God? He was a single human in a world of billions. Would you look at an ant on an anthill and specially pay attention to that one alone?

And comparing it to this world, which literally has a god, there was really not much difference at all. People lived their lives like they always do. Earthlings believed in their various gods while people here believed in the Empress' presence. Their beliefs may change the way they live their lives, giving them hope and strength to live through tough times, but most would believe just for the sake of believing.

"Ahem, back to the topic," Said Aran, and after clearing his throat again, he continued. "They are commissioned by the Empress, because no one else can properly use those Worlds. As you probably imagine, the World of Time sounds like an extremely powerful World, but its strength is pointless to us, normal mages, since no one can use it properly"

"People tried all sorts of things, like trying to stop time, trying to go back in time, trying to peek into the future, but all they could achieve was making someone slower and that was quickly found to be useless, since you yourself would become slower as well for some reason, all while costing enormous amounts of mana. But when a mage tried to make themselves faster, their bodies became highly fragile. You move just a little bit too forcefully, and your bones could just snap. We don't know why that happens, but that's the way it was"

Maybe it's a deficient World? Is the other one deficient as well? Thinking of the matter a bit more, Evin found that the reasoning was not that. Most likely, the mages simply didn't know how time worked. Evin thought in a condescending tone, but obviously, he himself knew jack shit about time.

"What about the other one?"

"Heavy World also had the same problem. You could make objects either heavier or lighter, and that was it. You could pair the lightness with the World of Storms to make yourself fly, but other than that, there wasn't much use to it. Though, if you overloaded the World with lodestones, you could probably squash someone to death, but the cost-to-effect ratio is too high. Oh also, they are widely used to speed up the natural hardening of lodestones, so it's somewhat more popular than the World of Time"

Evin also pondered if the Heavy World was referring to Gravity. He could definitely see a situation where the people of Alvox had yet to learn about gravity. He decided to recheck the viability of this information in the future.

"I see. Is that everything?"

Evin learned a lot in this conversation, and now he just needed to apply them in reality.

'Aran told me that he couldn't really tell me much, but if what he said about knowledge and imagination being the deciding factors of channeling the Worlds was true, then he has essentially told me everything I need. Now I just need to practice lots and practice hard,' Evin thought happily.

"Yes, that's basically everything. There's a million ways to use the Worlds to your advantage, but they all start from the basics. Start learning how to channel the World with the mana in the air, and when Arza becomes old enough, I'll start teaching you two more in-depth knowledge. But let's finish for today. Concentrate on yourself exiting the World to return to the main one." Aran instructed, and he became increasingly blurry and disappeared into the black box on Evin's hand.

He willed himself to go back. The refreshing feeling of clear-headedness disappeared, and Evin could feel that he had returned to the main World.

'Perfect,' It was much simpler than Evin imagined.

Then, the box in Evin's hand started whirring and three papers with writing on it appeared on Evin's hands from inside it.

'Is this a fucking fax?' Evin's jaw fell open in shock.

One had a list of the Worlds and their respective Authorities, and another had a set of instructions on it:

[Ask Liza to take the stamp with the symbol that depicts a Knight helm with three different weapons from the top left drawer on my desk and stamp it on the last paper. Show to Mage Association]

Evin took a closer look at the last paper sheet and realized that it was a declaration of some sorts from Aran. It said that Aran intended to take 2nd grade citizen Eviendra as his disciple and taught him how to access the Worlds and wished the Mage association of Smallwall city to accept him as a pseudo 1st grade citizen and also put guards near his house, so that people wouldn't harass his family.

Done with his conversation, Evin knocked on the door and Liza opened the room from outside. Evin showed her the instructions and the declaration.

Liza read through it and immediately did as instructed.

"I'll bring you to the Mage Association tomorrow, why don't you rest inside Arza's room for the time being? The boy is sleeping, so you can practice your new magic," Liza smiled.