The experiment

The next day, Bythos returned to Archmage Zaroth's office. Inside, Archmage Zaroth was waiting for him.

"I had been waiting for you to arrive before we start. This did come from you after all." Archmage Zaroth said while pointing to the glass ball on the table.

"There's a lot I want to test on it, as I've never seen anything like this before. Judging by my papers and by extrapolating, the result of yesterday's session should've resulted in one of nine type of magic gems being produced. Red-fire, blue-water, yellow-earth, green-nature, air-greyish blue, astral-pearly white, death-purple. Blood will produce a puddle of blood and holy will just produce a small little holy relic."

Archmage Zaroth walked over the table to pick up the glass ball then continued, "This is made of magic, that I can be certain. However it does not fit any of my estimates. There do not exist a magic gem in the world that is perfectly clear, so that brings into question it's nature. It's also way too big. You could close your fist neatly over a normal magic gem, but this dwarfs them..."

Archmage Zaroth began speaking non-stop without any regards to Bythos, deep in his thought. This reminds Bythos of himself back in his own world.

Anyone who truly loves their craft will become engrossed when discussing it, often without giving notice to his surroundings. Thankfully for the both of them, Bythos is a good listener and happens to be interested too.

Together, they conducted various physical tests on the glass ball, and concluded that it is no different from the typical magic gem apart from its size and the fact that it does not correspond to any of the nine paths.

It would be a risk for Archmage Zaroth to try and use this glass ball as a magic gem, but if he does nothing with it, it would serve as nothing but an object of curiosity, or a shelf ornament.

Having made his mind, Archmage Zaroth took the glass ball and began absorbing the magic in it. Even if he had used magic gems in thus fashion in the past, their size could not compare with the one he is holding now, the effect should be much more different.

Once the magic within started flowing into Archmage Zaroth, his eyes and mouth began glowing white like a beacon, standing absolutely still with the glass ball in hand.

Bythos looked at the glass ball and saw into the mind of Archmage Zaroth, and his consciousness was sucked in as well.

Archmage Zaroth found himself once again in the realm of Megistus. He walked along the path he had previously walked back when he had last used a magic gem.

How long ago was it? That is not important anyhow. Now he has the glimmer of hope he previously did not have.

As he approached the collapsed section of the pathway, pieces of debris rose from the abyss and attached themselves to pathway, as if time was being rewound to repair the damages.

Archmage Zaroth walked over the once inaccessible region calmly on the surface but turbulent on the inside. He kept walking forward, but unlike the path previously, there is no longer any doors for him to open.

After walking for a while, Archmage Zaroth reached the end of the path. There, a statue of Megistus stands holding a staff made of a different material.

Archmage Zaroth felt compelled and reached out to touch the staff, which glowed bright enough to engulf the entirety of where he is. Soon after, Archmage Zaroth returned to the normal world.

Bythos looked at Archmage Zaroth to see if anything changed, but he could not tell the difference. Archmage Zaroth seems to be satisfied however.

"I can feel magic congregating towards me. Is this what it feels like to step beyond level 5?" Archmage Zaroth said while looking at his surroundings and himself.

Bythos is not able to see magic, but from Archmage Zaroth's reaction it had probably worked.

"I have so much to test out. I didn't see any further gates to open on the path, probably because we were never intended to go beyond level 5. This means that I should be able to cast spells at any level, but I would still need to come up with the spells myself, as the knowledge on those spells were lost as well."

Archmage Zaroth grabbed Bythos' shoulders and continued, "I'm forever in your debt friend. From today onwards, your enemy is my enemy, your friend is my friend."

Bythos gently pushed Archmage Zaroth aside and said, "You are the one did all the work, so there's no need."

Archmage Zaroth beamed, "That may be true, but all that effort is for naught if you're not here. Come with me, we have to celebrate this occasion!"

When the two of them walked out of the building, the earth began to rumble. A strange feeling overwhelmed Bythos, making him reflexively look upwards.

There, he saw a gap in the firmament, and something is peering at him from it. The gap expanded to show two glowing figures, whose features are hidden by the glimmer.

Voices from presumably those two figures came into Bythos' ears, in an almost creepy manner, as if they were whispering beside him.

"This is the second time this has happened, we should improve our measures."

"There's no need. The only reason they can succeed is with others like him. As long as we can get rid of the goddess this shouldn't be an issue anymore."

"That is still in progress. In the mean time we can start getting rid of this one like last time."

When they were silent, a bolt of lightning flashed downwards, heading straight for Archmage Zaroth.

Archmage Zaroth was frozen in shock at the sight and unable to get of the way. Even if he could move the lightning will likely change course and head for him anyway.

Bythos mustered his strength and jumped in the path of the lightning, in an attempt to help Archmage Zaroth. He can't let all their effort go to waste now.

Once the lightning hit Bythos, it began coursing through him, searing every fiber of his muscle. Luckily for him, this is not painful as all his nerve tissues are damaged in this process. Even as Bythos had fainted, the lightning did not stop inflicting itself on him, only stopping after turning Bythos to a charred mess.

Archmage Zaroth immediately rushed forward to check for his vitals with magic. Bythos is still alive, so Archmage Zaroth started to heal him with all his ability.